Alphonce Shiundu
3 July 2009
Nairobi — The public will have a taste of the budgeting process when House teams sit next week to discuss this year's budgetary allocations.
At least 11 of the 28 House Committees are scheduled to meet, with eight of them having their sessions in public.
However, the public will be locked out of the meeting with the Fiscal Analysis office, which is expected to take MPs through the Budget.
This is the first time that the meeting schedule has been given to the public.
Previously, the timetable was posted on a white-board at the parliament lobby. MPs were then notified via letters.This new arrangement is in line with the new House rules that open-up all committee meetings to the public.
However, the initial assembly of the House teams remain 'closed' as will instances where the committee will be discussing the details of the reports to be presented to the House.
Similarly, when the committee sits to discuss spending on sensitive security projects , the public will have to stay out.Such seems to be the case on Thursday when the Defence and Foreign Relations team takes on Defence Minister Yusuf Hajj and also on Friday when the same team has a date with Intelligence boss Michael Gichangi.
The National Assembly has hired additional rooms at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre to accommodate the public and the media.
Other venues are Continental House, Committee rooms within Parliament and County Hall. These three are owned by the National Assembly.
But even with the arrangements, and the anticipated huge public turn-out for the hearings, harsh rules are in place to keep order.
Basic etiquette such as personal cleanliness, silence and early arrival to the venues will be strictly observed.
Hecklers will not be tolerated at the hearings, which are expected to apply the same stringent rules as those which apply in Parliament.
The National Assembly Clerk, Mr Patrick Gichohi said the public will be admitted in the hearing venues on a "first come, first serve basis."
An elaborate schedule of the committee meetings is posted on the parliamentary website.
The schedule comes within a fortnight of the formation of committees and within a week of intense training of all committee chairs.
Medical Services Minister Anyang' Nyong'o will be the first to taste the new rules when he appears before the Health Committee on Monday afternoon.
The hearing which begins at 2.30p.m in the afternoon will be held in Continental House. The minister will return at the same venue the following morning to explain the need for the allocation to the ministry.
Finance Minister will have a busy Tuesday when he faces the newly formed Budget committee to put into operation the Fiscal Management Act, 2009-- the controversial law that gives Parliament the power to effectively scrutinise the Budget
That afternoon, Mr Kenyatta will have his day with the Finance, Planning and Trade team looking at the Treasury allocations.
Other ministries scheduled to appear before the committee next week are Foreign Affairs, East African Community, Environment and Mineral Resources, Immigration, Internal Security and that of Energy.
This year's budget was a total of Sh867 billion with a good chunk of the money devolved to the constituencies, but set to be disbursed via the line ministries.
This is the reason why MPs are said to be very vigilant when it comes to the scrutiny of the allocations and are likely to give the ministers a hard time when it comes to spending on individual votes directed at constituencies.
Many of the committees have 11 members except the Budget committee which has 15 members, plus all the chairmen of the 12 departmental committees.
Parliament is currently on recess and is expected to resume on July 21.
As such, this has allowed the House teams to meet on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday--days which committees rarely sit for fear of interrupting House Business.
House rules prohibit committee meetings whenever Parliament is sitting.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
