Leader of Majority Party Aden Duale. Photo/FILE NATION MEDIA GROUP
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Squabbling between the two main coalitions in the Senate and National Assembly has derailed the appointment of Kenyan legislators to the Pan- African Parliament.
Kenya has five slots but there are disagreements over where the five are to be picked from.
A five names proposed by Jubilee and Cord presented to the National Assembly by Majority Leader Aden Duale on Wednesday was rejected.
On the list were MPs Zakayo Cheruiyot, Millie Odhiambo-Mabona and Rachael Shebesh and Senators Kipchumba Murkomen and Janet Ong’era.
Mr Cheruiyot and Mr Murkomen are URP members while Ms Odhiambo and Ms Ong’era are ODM.
Ms Shebesh, the Nairobi County Women’s Representative, is TNA.
The National Assembly was confronted with a delicate balancing act given the Senate interests in the appointments.
The Senate has also agreed on five names which comprise three MPs and two Senators. The names were forwarded to the National Assembly but the legislators failed to agree.
Notification of the five names was received in the National Assembly through the House Business Committee, which plans the business of the House.
The committee received written notification from Cord deleting one Senator, replacing the name with an MP.
Suba MP John Mbadi attempted to amend the list on the floor last week to replace Senator Ong’era with Mr Daniel Maanzo amid protests from the floor as this would leave the Senate with only Mr Murkomen in the continental Parliament.
Mr Mbadi said the Senate did not deserve two slots given its numbers. “The Senate is already over-represented. We must give them just one,” he said.But Mr Duale insisted that the list must accommodate the Senate. He said the National Assembly must work harmoniously with the Senate.
“The two Houses must work together to move the agenda of this country forward,” he said.
The Majority Leader had to withdraw the list and the motion for adoption of the names was shelved to allow further consultations in the majority and minority coalitions.Amendments to the list cannot be made on the floor by a member. Changes can only originate from party leaders.
A majority of members have opposed the appointment of Ms Shebesh. The Sunday Nation, however, learnt that she is the State House choice for the position. Sources say she has the blessings of the President who sees her as a performer and because of her former stint in Parliament.
WOMEN POLITICS
Competing interests in TNA have also come to the fore, with Nominated MP Amina Abdalla and Taveta MP Naomi Shaaban challenging the proposed names.
Women politics is also evidently at play, with sources saying there is strong opposition by women MPs to the appointment of Ms Shebesh, Mrs Mabona and Ms Ong’era, especially from Western and Nyanza regions.
This is the second time the motion is coming before the House. Last time, the House withdrew the motion, there was debate on whether the protocol to the treaty establishing the African Economic Community in relation to the Pan-African Parliament allows membership from a country with a bicameral Parliament.
Mr Duale said it has been confirmed that the Article of membership in the Protocol that there are a number of countries with members of the Senate and National Assembly and this must be reflected in the membership sent to the regional Parliament.
Mr Mbadi argued that while all regions cannot be represented in the regional assembly. He said no region should have more than one person. House Speaker Justin Muturi said members should keep in mind that only a few among them can be sent to represent Kenya.
“We cannot all be there, so let us all reflect about that as go about this debate,” he said. Choruses of shouts of disapproval marked the brief deliberations on the list before the Majority Leader rose to request a suspension of the debate on the motion to allow further consultations among party leaders on the names.
The same names cannot be presented to the House a second time if members disapprove the list.
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