Nairobi — The National Assembly is set to resume sittings Tuesday after Easter recess, with a full in-tray.
The House broke for the Easter holidays in line with the House calendar.
Upon resumption, top on House agenda for the second session of the 13th parliament, is the establishment of a framework to implement the political settlement between President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga with priority on constitution of the bipartisan committee.
The ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance and the opposition Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya coalition members in House are expected to have highly charged sessions with each pushing to have President Ruto's and Odinga's agenda sail through.
Azimio leader Raila Odinga on Thursday last week unveiled a seven-member team that will faceoff with Kenya Kwanza alliance nominees for bi-partisan talks at parliament.
Among the leaders selected are MPs Millie Odhiambo (Suba North), David Pkosing (Pokot South) and Otiende Amollo (Rarieda).
Others are Senators Ledama Ole Kina (Narok), Edwin Sifuna (Nairobi), Enoch Wambua (Kitui) and Amina Laura Mnyanzi (Malindi).
The House will also be seeking to adopt the Report of the Departmental Committee on Labour on the Inquiry Regarding Sexual Harassment of Female Workers in Tea Estates in Kericho County, laid in the House on Thursday, 23rd March 2023.
MPs also seek to establish a Joint Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on a Proposal to amend the Constitution to entrench certain Specialized Funds (NG-CDF, Senate Oversight Fund and NGAAF).
Amid the highly charged political atmosphere, the House will conclude debate on the Reports of the 144th and 145th Assemblies of the Inter Parliamentary Union, the general debate on proposals to amend the Constitution under Standing Orders, and the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2022 which was not included due to quorum hitch.
Further, the House is also expected to begin debate on the ratification of the African Union Treaty for the establishment of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) and ratification of the agreement between Kenya and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island on Defence Cooperation.
"The House Business Committee shall reconvene on Tuesday, 11th April 2023 to schedule business for the rest of the week," said Majority leader in the National Assembly Kimani Ichung'wah.
Ichung'wah who doubles as Kikuyu MP commended the leadership of both sides of the House and Members for their dedication and cooperation exhibited in the first session, urging them to replicate the same in the second part of the session.
"In the first session of the 13th parliament, we have certainly set a good pace and met the statutory timelines in respect of all matters that were before the House. This includes the Budget Policy Statement and the Debt Management Strategy Paper Approval," added Ichung'wah who doubles as Kikuyu MP.
As the House resumes its sittings, Ichung'wah observed that the House awaits reports on various items of business finalized reports on Bills, treaties, approval hearings, inquiries and response to Statements which will were brought to the House.
As the House reopens, the question time segment that existed in the retired constitution will be making a comeback, where Cabinet Secretaries will be required to appear in the House to respond to Questions and to provide Reports to the House pursuant to the general investigatory mandate of the House and the requirements of Articles 153(2) and 153(4)(b) of the Constitution.
This follows an adoption of the report of the procedure and House rules committee that amended various sections of the Standing Orders to allow the ministers to physically appear before the House and answer questions from the public and MPs.
The legislators amended Standing Order 25A to allow a Cabinet Secretary to expound on government policy, reply to questions and provide reports concerning matters under his or her docket.
According to the new Standing Orders, which took effect on March 22, the Cabinet secretaries will appear before the House every Wednesday from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm to answer questions, expound on government policy and provide reports concerning matters under their control.
"A Cabinet Secretary shall provide physical and electronic copies of the reply to a question at least a day before appearing before the House," reads the new Standing Order 42 (c).
CSs are required to appear before the House every Wednesday afternoon between 2:30pm - 5:30pm.
Yesterday, National Assembly Speaker Hon. Sen. (Dr.) Moses Wetangula clarified ahead of today's (Tuesday) sitting that only Cabinet Secretaries will be allowed under the amended Standing Orders to appear in the House to Questions.
"To the Cabinet Secretaries that there will be no room for delegation of anybody to come to this House to answer Questions on their behalf. Each Cabinet Secretary is obligated under the Constitution to come to the House in person and answer Questions or expound policy in their docket in response to Questions raised by Members," Speaker Wetangula directed.
Speaker Wetang'ula said, the Leader of the Majority Party shall inform the House of the date, time, and order in which Cabinet Secretaries shall appear to reply to Questions and provide Reports to the House.
In so doing, the speaker directed that the Leader of the Majority party shall take into consideration the urgency of each Question.
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"To this end, regularly, the Clerk shall prepare and publish on the parliamentary website a tentative list of Cabinet Secretaries scheduled to reply to Questions and provide reports to the House on the advice of the Leader of the Majority Party," he said.
Nevertheless, legislators' public attention will be drawn to State-backed Privatization Bill which seeks eliminate Parliament's nod in sale of parastatals.
The Privatization Bill 2023, which has already been approved by cabinet seeks to replace the 2005 law, will offer the Treasury more powers in the sale of parastatal as the new administration moves to sell scores of government-owned entities.
Under the approved bill, the National Treasury could proceed and sell non-strategic parastatals with ease without the legal and policy bottlenecks and the green light to approve the privatization process without any legal or policy framework barriers.
The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury will approve the sale of State-owned firms together with the board of the Privatisation Authority, which is currently the Privatization Commission.
According to the Cabinet, under the new legal regime, the private sector and other investors will be allowed to contribute to the economy by having shares in the entities and reduce the demand for government resources and reliance on government financing by the parastatals.
