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Kenya: Why MPs Took a Three-Week Break
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The Nation (Nairobi)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Owino Opondo
Nairobi
One big House with no business to transact: That was the reality that visited Parliament on Tuesday.
For that, MPs agreed to adjourn for three weeks and resume on April 15.
Enough functional structures were not in place.
In keeping with tradition and practice, the bulk of Parliament's work is business brought by the Government side: Bills and sessional papers.
Ideally, the 20 members of the House Business Committee - chaired by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, who is also the leader of Government Business in the House - are supposed to meet every Tuesday evening to decide what MPs should debate and for how long the following week.
At different times, respective Cabinet ministers push the Government's agenda in Parliament. They present Bills and sessional papers to House Business Committee for consideration and listing on the Order Paper. The same applies to questions and motions by private members and political parties.
Two weeks ago, Mr Musyoka tabled the names of the committee members and it was endorsed by MPs. Other members of the team are ministers Martha Karua, George Saitoti, Amos Kimunya, Uhuru Kenyatta, Kiraitu Murungi and Moses Wetang'ula.
Also sitting on the committee are MPs Musalia Mudavadi, Sally Kosgei, William Ruto, Najib Balala, Henry Kosgey, Charity Ngilu, Anyang' Nyong'o, Omingo Magara and Jakoyo Midiwo. Others are Mutula Kilonzo, George Thuo, Adan Keynan, and Ali Mohamed Mohamud.
However, the committee had by Tuesday found itself in the ignoble place of lacking business to list on the order paper. It had only done three things.
The committee had made Parliament debate and endorse the two Bills that established a coalition Government and created positions of Prime Minister and two deputies. President Kibaki has since signed the two into law.
Second, the business committee listed on the programme of the day, debate on the speech President Kibaki gave in Parliament on March 6, listing the Government's legislative agenda for the session. That debate was concluded on its seventh day on Tuesday.
Strange spectacle
Finally, the committee included on the Order Paper a few questions by MPs and allowed them to debate the motion of adjournment on Tuesday, even as it became apparent that the deadlock by President Kibaki and ODM leader Raila Odinga to agree on the full Cabinet had jolted Parliament's work.
Earlier, there was a strange spectacle when a question by Kimilili MP David Eseli to the ministry of Agriculture could not be adequately answered. The ministry is one of those that did not get a minister when the half Cabinet was named in January.
Although the Vice-President in his capacity as the leader of Government in the House did his best to answer the question, it became obvious that his response was not satisfactory. But he was right in pleading not to be forced to commit the Government into promises pending the appointment of the minister for Agriculture.
In short, the "Eseli Question" showed how an incomplete Cabinet becomes a hindrance to the full operation of the National Assembly.
The 222 elected and nominated MPs represent the wishes of Kenyans and different interest groups: tribes, regions, gender, the highly, the lowly, etc.
The voices of those diverse publics are usually heard in Parliament through members' questions. Although some queries may be basic as to know if a minister is aware that a toilet of a primary school somewhere was not built, the queries represent the general pulse of the citizenry.
Many times, ordinary citizens who had not been paid pensions and other retirement benefits got instant help from respective ministers when their questions were listed on the order paper.
In the current arrangement where the President has named only a half of his Cabinet, it is impossible for Parliament to hold the all-important, one-hour Question Time since some information will be required from non-existent ministers.
During debate on the motion of adjournment, Mr Musyoka and a number of MPs hinted that it was necessary for Parliament to take a break to allow the President and Mr Odinga to agree on the full Cabinet under the coalition.
Push the agenda
The move would not only see ministers push the agenda of Government in the House and answer MPs' questions. By disclosing their full list of the Cabinet, the President and Mr Odinga would have allowed Parliament to move on and appoint members to its watchdog and other committees.
For example, there will be a need to change House Business Committee members if it turns out that most of the ODM members present have been appointed ministers. This is to avoid "suffocating" the outfit with government members.
A three-day induction organised by the Clerk of the National Assembly to train new MPs in the Standing Orders opens today at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi. The 10th Parliament has 128 new MPs.
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In Tanzania and Uganda the Clerk holds a two- to four-week seminar to train new MPs on House rules. In Germany, parliament organises a two-week course for aspiring MPs.
During debate on the Presidential Speech and the motion of adjournment, it became clear that most of the new MPs were yet to learn the rules of procedure.
They were not alone. Even some members who were on repeat terms exhibited weak grasp of the Standing Orders.
Do these Kenyans know what they are doing?
According to the available information on Kenya, they are a (parliamentary) democracy and a republic and so we KNOW (presumably) that they hold dear their precious constitution. Furthermore they held the elections 2007 according to their constitution, and so we expect that they have a majority party (that did win the most seats) in government and they have an official opposition.
If not, then can they tell us upon which document their legitimacy as a sovereign state is based? Can they tell us what it is or where we can read it?
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