mzalendo :: Eye On Kenyan Parliament

By Afrofeminizta.

Kudos Afrofeminizta for providing Mzalendo with this first-hand report!

I went to parliament for the first day’s debate on the Sexual Offences Bill. I went because i’m a woman and have a keen interest in ensuring that sexual offences are responded to adequately. I have had the personal experience of supporting a friend through a painful process of seeking legal redress for rape in a flawed legal system which does not care for the victims. So i went to see for myself what the MPs would do and also to offer moral support to Hon. Njoki Ndungu.

When we got there, it was chaotic and already the Government had brought in armed police in 1 truck and a landrover, decked out in hard hats and tear gas canisters strapped around their waists. We were meant to be on a list to go and sit at the speakers gallery. . .but as you can imagine in all the confusion our names could not be found. I’m not sure whether this was disorganization or sabotage by those who did not wish to see us enter.

Anyway we decided to get in via the public gallery. Luckily for us, Hon. Cecily Mbarire came to find out what was going on and convinced some guy (in a green uniform. . .i think he is in the parliamentary staff) to let as many of us in as possible to the public gallery. So we went in via the main gate and were shown round to the public gallery which can be accessed via the entrance near Continental house (where MPs their have offices).

For women, you can only go in with a handbag. . .for some reason all these funky ciondos; sisal bags; fabric bags were not being allowed in! Go figure. So i’ll advise you to go with leather or some man made fibre bag! There is a female guard assigned to search people as they enter and you are also asked to switch off your mobile phone. They are quite ‘macho’ so you can’t ati put it on silent and pretend it’s off…You also could not go in with folders …weird. In terms of dress code, they were not enforcing any . . .i think is saw a woman in jeans.

So up the stairs you go, past smelly male loos and one dank female one into the gallery. Do not, i repeat Do not wear high shoes or short skirts. . .otherwise your business will be all on show (much to the delight of some pervy men…at least on that day). high shoes are a no no because the steps that lead to the various sitting rows are as steep as Kilimanjaro! It’s quite hellish.

There’s not much protocol in this gallery.
If you sit in the middle of a row, you have a better view of the house although still not all of it. For instance you can’t see the speaker but you can hear him quite clearly.

In terms of MPs conduct on that particular day. . .it was shocking. They walk in and the only concession they make to their surroundings is to bow ostentatiously to the speaker. But once they cross the line into the floor of the house, ah, it’s like they are in a bar! They carry on their discussions in loud voices; at one time we could barely hear Njoki speaking. They hold meetings; the men walk around way more than the women.

When Njoki started reading her proposal, i noted at least 2/3 of the house walked out from both sides - Kiraitu, Mwiraria etc ! Some of the male MPs i remember who stayed on - Raila Odinga, Mutula Kilonzo, Nyachae, Gideon Konchellah, Michuki (though he didn’t stay the full course). I think i counted all the women MPs in the house on that day. Most visibly vocal against the pronouncements of some of the male contributors - Adelina Mwau and Cecily Mbarire. It takes courage to point a finger at a man in a roomful of over 80% hostile men and few are willing to support you. Paul Muite performed quite well on this front and stood up to condemn the trivializing of sexual offences by speaker after speaker. I felt that if Kaparo had stayed on for this debate, he would not have let it degenerate into the farce the first day became. The deputy that day. . .i think it was David Musila . . .was just snoozing on the job! In my mind i’d always thought that the speaker’s job was to ensure fair hearing of all contributions. . .but what i saw on that day was all about who has the loudest voice.

It took me back to primary school. Where there was a group of boys in a class - like over 70% of the boys were part of this - who just sat and heckled everyone just to get a laugh. . .the teacher, the prefects, the other students. And as we went on to upper primary their conduct began to border on lewd, loaded with sexual innuendo, misplaced bravado. . . and it was just allowed to go on by the school administration, making life hell for a number of students. That is how parliament is. . .it is a club of noise makers who make comments in the hope that it will elicit a laugh, even when it is at the expense of a Kenyan tax payer! The MPs i saw that day were basically there to elicit a laugh and solidify their membership to the misogynists club!

From the foregoing, you can probably tell that i did not return to the gallery or the house. It was too emotionally and physically draining.

Despite this, i’d urge everyone to try and go for even 1 hour. You’ll realize what great responsibility you shirk, when one decides to vote along tribal, misogynistic leanings, for opportunistic political alliances and rogue MPs. It is very sobering!
I will vote hopefully even more wisely this time and support (financially, morally etc.) all those credible candidates who will emerge to vie for elections especially the women.

(note: unfortunately i can’t find the list my friends and i drew up of the MPs who stayed for that debate and those who walked out. If i do find it i’ll be happy to share it with you).

Public Announcement

1. Kenyan politicians are largely jokers.

2. That’s largely because Kenyans let them get away with it.

3. There is something you can do about it, other than rant and complain about

a) how useless they are;
b) how old they are;
c) how corrupt they are;
d) how greedy they are;
e) how lazy they are;
f) did we say how useless they are?

4. If you visit this website and find yourself doing little more than complaining, and you are currently not engaged in a battle to figure out how to put the NEXT meal on the table. Tsk, tsk.

5. There is a way you can be civically engaged. And no we do not mean voting.

6. And no does not mean you have to march the streets, run for office, set up your own party, etc.

7. Just help Mzalendo become a better resource.

8. By volunteering to give us at least one hour of your time and visiting the public gallery in Parliament and then writing about it. Parliament sits on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and you can find out the hours they will be in session by calling the Parliament directly at 221291-3. Bankelele cannot be the only Mzalendo we have…for real Also if you cannot visit parliament, help us fill out the MP profiles that are incomplete by collecting information from wherever you can. And as always, we welcome your suggestions on how we can improve…thanks to those who’ve sent in their 0.02 cents already. Yes Mzalendo is “our baby” but it’s ultimate strength will depend on YOUR participation.

9. You can email your report or any information to us via the contact page or to mzalendo-at-googlegroups.com

10. Otherwise, next time you find yourself getting ready to have a bitch session about how these guys suck ask yourself what can you do about it then remember this list. Or:

shut up

(Yes, we’re being harsh).

On to Bankelele’s latest report.

The following events take place between the hour of 5:30 and 6:30 pm on
Tuesday June 20 in Parliament.

He had talked for about five minutes when the session was adjourned at 6:30
by the Speaker till Wednesday afternoon.

- We’ve completed the entry of Ministries and Ministers, and are now working on the Assistant Ministers. Where applicable you can see this in the Member Details e.g John Michuki

- We’ve now included the member name in the MP Query

- The Event Schedule in the sidebar will display important parliamentary dates

- Hover the mouse over the date to see the details

Contributed by Bankelele.

Budget 2006/07

To gauge the importance of the budget speech given today, it is useful to look at 2005/06 budget speech from last year. Minister Kimunya gave his first budget speech as Minister, which was a progression from his predecessor, Minister Mwiraria who resigned at the beginning of the year.

He has several popular positions: He will have correctly read the mood of the country leading to the 2007 elections, the resentment the public has for ever fattening MP allowance packages, and also noticed the Rwanda example in cutting back on government limousines, whil at the same time having to keep the government moving on taxes, without factoring in donor support. Again, he depends on Parliament to pass several bills to enable the government to meet its goals.

Economy

Has grown for 3 straight years, hitting 5.8% with 460,000 new jobs created last year. That statement by the Minister produced groans from MP’s within the first 2 minutes of his speech prompting Speaker Kaparo to ask them to wait and comment on the truth of that statement later. The Minister however noted that the rich - poor gap was unacceptably high. He called on the private sector to lead economic growth while admitting that the government had gotten embroiled in some scandals, from which they had learnt their lesson.

Outlook

GDP to increase by 5.8%
Jobs 1.4m new jobs created over the last 3 years
inflation
- T-bill rates stable at 8 to 8.5%, even though the trade deficit has widened
- He expects inflation to decline to 5% by year end from 13% in May
- Government will stick to the 29.5 billion shilling borrowing limit
- Increase money supply by 10% by next June
alleviate poverty: Budget allocation to health, agriculture, rural development, education and infrastructure sectors combined increased from 60.7 to 62.7% and 66.5% next year.
Taxes, not Donors: As with Mwiraria, he is not factoring in donor funding. Therefore it’s importance to maintain revenue growth (i.e. though taxation). He also thanked taxpayers for their contributions several times during his speech.

Investors

Bonds and the NSE
- Country will fund infrastructure projects through bonds
- The government will encourage parstatals with good cash flows to develop bonds to support their funding requirements
- Asset backed securities for infrastructure will be exempt from income tax
- All listing costs on the NSE to be tax deductible
- Exempted interest income for bonds for infrastructure and social services with at least 3 years maturity
- Also tax deduction to support the creation of ESOP’s. (Employees ownership programs)
- Dividends unclaimed after 7 years will be transferred from companies back to the CMA investor compensation fund – from where investors can claim it if/when they ever resurface

Real Estate Property owners took a major hit with the government now re-introducing capital gains tax on the transfer of property. However generous deductions were put back for 1st time home owners and mortgage buyers.

Members of Parliament

Happy
- CDF up by 40% from 7.2b to 10 billion per year. This is an increase from 2.5 to 3% of national collection (but much less than the 7.5% MP’s are demanding)
- LATF will increase and each constituency will have about 40 – 50m each year with about 11m for roads (and MP’s are in charge of this). They will also get extra funds for bursaries and police stations.
- The minister advised MP’s to use the funds carefully as it will affect how they will be judged by their constituents in the 2007 elections
- Funding for political parties allowed
Sad
Their salary and entertainment allowances in addition to that of other constitutional office holders will now be taxed.

Government spending

- 461b budgeted (26% of GDP) for the year and Kimunya called on officers to use scare resources efficiently
- 2/3 of wage bill goes health and education
Monster trucks banned
- New transport policy for public service goes into effect on July 1 which will reduce cars pools expect for key sectors such as police and health
- Ministers, their assistant and permanent secretaries will have just 1 official car
- No use of official vehicles to and from duty (wheelbarrow maybe?)
- The Government will dispose of extra vehicles by 30 September
- No provision for purchase of motor vehicles this year – and constitutional offices must first get approval from treasury

Banking/financial sector

- Government intends to reduce discrimination in the sector by amending the banking act. This will allow for institutions like Muslim banks which will lower the cost of banking
- He will create an independent insurance authority
- He will also create an independent authority for micro finance institutions
- The central bank of Kenya (CBK) will have an independent chairman – and the governor (who currently chairs the board) will be an ‘MD’ who is answerable to board
- Lease financingGenerous waivers wer given for this, but still subject to withholding tax

Privatization

In 2006 - 07 the government will;
- Restructure and privatize Telkom and NBK
- Sell government shareholding in Mumias and Kenya Re
- License a second national telephone operator and other gateway licensees
- Concession the Mombasa port

Corruption

- government will hire more lawyers
- national anti-corruption plan to be launched next month with measurable indicators
- findings and recommendations on Anglo leasing and Goldenberg to be implemented

Improve Business

- KPA, KRA, KBS and Police will now work 24 hours at the port of Mombasa to ease congestion
- KPA, KRA, KBS license costs to be rationalised
- Of the existing 1,300 business licences, 150 to be eliminated and 700 simplified.

Taxation

- reduced VAT burden – any business with a turnover of less than 5 million is exempt from VAT registration
- monthly allocation for VAT refunds will go up by 46% to 900m which should cover legitimate refunds
- priority will be given to businesses who are electronic tax register (ETR) compliant. Also companies not ETR compliant after December 31 will not be allowed to recover the cost of installation from VAT and will have to foot the bill for ETR
- He will curb fake refund claim by penalising a person twice the fraudulent claim lodged and a 3 year prison term
- MotoristsNo more road licenses for vehicles. This tax will be recovered from fuel charges effective tonight

Infrastructure

- Quarterly reports will be given to the public on roads progress
- 3 new roads bodies created
- Set standards for road construction and contractors who don’t meet this will be blacklisted

Sin Taxes

- All up are tax up on portable spirits, excise tax on wines and spirits and excise tax on malt beer However Excise tax removed on non malt beers i.e. Senator which will cost as little as a soda.
- Cigarettes tax up by 10%

Insurance

- Insurance tax down
- Limit to be set for accident compensation
- Brokers to remit cash immediately to insurance companies

Others

Kenyans Emigrants will be allowed to collect their full retirement benefits when they leave the country. The rest of us have to wait till 55 years to access employer’s contribution to our pension.
- bread zero rated wheat flour which should lower the price of bread
- mothers zero rated diapers napkins feeding bottles
- bicycles zero duty on unassembled bicycle imported by local assemblers. Also reduced duty on assembled ones (and motorbikes ) from 25% to 10%
- solar No import duty on solar equipment (including batteries). Also removed duty on energy saving bulbs
- computers Removed VAT on computers, parts and accessories.
- agriculture Zero rated tractor tyres and parts, transportation of agricultural produce. Also Sugar levy burden will be borne by growers not consumers after January 1. This will make cane growers more vigilant on the use of the funds.
- Youth Increased allocation for the youth ministry, polytechnic and the NYS. Also 1 youth polytechnic will be set up in each constituency
- Entertainers Kenyan ‘artistes’ in Sports music and drama are exempted from paying VAT.

The budget is being delivered this week by Minister of Finance Amos Kimunya.

For policy junkies and those who’d like to stay informed, a copy of the budget outlook for 2006/2007 is available here. More importantly, the medium term strategy that will drive the budget is available here (prepared May 2006). Kudos to the Ministry of Finance for making the documents available online, there still a lot more to be done as far as opening up the process but these are important first steps in making the budget process transparent.

A brief summary of the budget process in Kenya can be found here.

A more comprehensive (and recent) paper on the process is available here.
An aside: two NGOs that run budget monitoring programs and work to make the process more accessible to the average citizen should typically be several steps ahead of the government in terms of making their publications easily accesible, but have failed dismally in this regard. Hopefully the Institute of Economic Affairs will have their 2006-7 Alternative Budget online soon and Sodenet will publish their report on the budget process in Kenya. (I’m sure it won’t cost that much more in donor funds). The IEA has made a general citizen’s guide to the budget available online, but the document is obviously a draft version (still useful reading if you can avoid be distracted by the tracking).

AOB: Anyone willing to cover the speech (televised or in person) for us? Please drop a line via the contact page.

Bankelele spent some time observing Parliamentary proceedings yesterday. A true Mzalendo he graciously agreed to share his experience with our readers. Read on and find out more about what goes on behind the scenes. And if you are willing/interested in attending a parliament session and filing a report  for Mzalendo, please get in touch via the contact page.

A DAY IN PARLIAMENT by Bankelele

(last names are respectfully used to abbreviate titles such as Hon. Mr _____ MP for _____).

Walk past also the garden table when MP’s often gather to issue harsh press conferences about their opponents/enemies to the assembled journalists and cameras for the 1 PM news. There’s also a lounge where they hold private meetings. In the hallway are huge boards announcing rules for visitors to Parliament including no talking, writing (except for media representatives who have their own gallery), laughing, taking photographs, using opera glasses wandering about etc.

Walked in to the house as Charity Ngilu was giving a speech the encouraging parliament to support a health bill. She mentioned that the country economic future was at stake her citizens were not healthy. Also that the government had erred when it did not continue with development of KEMRON (dawa which the Moi government has announced a few years ago was an AIDS cure) and which Ngilu said was later developed in Switzerland into a drug now used to treat Hepatitis B.

There are about 20 members in the house and I did not recognize the (temporary) speaker of the day. I was relieved that the speaker does not wear that awkward looking powdered white ceremonial wig. He was addressed, as “Mr Speaker, sir” and anyone who walked past the speaker’s dais has to bow, same as to a Judge in a court room.

Both sides of the chamber had about 10 members each. Karua was in charge on the government side, and I saw Wetangula, Munya, and a few others. Sitting alone on the back row was Nakitare.

The opposition side had Madoka seated alone on the front row following the proceedings carefully. There was more traffic on this side with Opposition MP’s such as Okundi, Olweny, Kamotho, and others walking in and out during the session, and later Charles Keter who came and sat next to Madoka.

Meanwhile behind the high MP’s benches, parliamentary staff carrying documents walk in and out of the chamber using several anonymous doors, like hidden Disney workers who enable Parliament to operate.

After Ngilu finished her speech, the second reading of her bill was passed with unanimous “Aye’s”, and no “Nay’s” and she then went to consult some people in the corner, who I assume were officers from her ministry about their bill. She then returned to the minister’s front row where she sat, one space away from Justice Minister Martha Karua.

After Ngilu, the next bill was announced, and the Minister for Heritage Mr. Suleiman Shakombo stood to present a museums bill to parliament. Kamotho and Okundi engaged in a rather loud conversation of their own as Shakombo explained that the bill would govern the heritage of the country, allowing structured funding and support of museums. He also said it would regulate the sector, prevent unscrupulous people from opening their own museums or taking cultural artefacts out of the country such as those of General Koinange, Koitalel arap Samoei, the man eaters of Tsavo (lions) ….

At this point, Keter stood to ask for a clarification of that line, whereupon Shakombo replied that this was from the time when “they were building the railway from my place to your place” and the whole place erupted into laughter.

Shakombo went on for a few more minutes before Keter again stood to get the speakers attention and inform him that the house did not have a quorum. (The chamber must have 30 MP’s, but a member must state this obvious fact for the Speaker to act). The speaker acknowledged this and broke the session up.

Karua turned to Norman Nyagah, the chief whip, who I had not noticed before, and he went out to round up MP’s from the lounge area to enable the session to continue.

And MP’s stood about and started talking for about 20 minutes. The numbers increased as Nyagah and the opposition whip rounded up more members. The scene reminded me of the chapter in Nelson De Mille;s “Gold Coast” novel, where the district attorney and a mafia don have a fiery confrontation in court followed an hour later by a very casual and friendly phone conversation - which astounded the don’s WASP lawyer. Likewise, just as MP’s breathe fire about their colleagues on the opposite side in public, behind closed doors they are friendly millionaire buddies who slap each other on their backs and affectionately refer to their colleagues by their last names.

I remember seeing live C-SPAN and BBC broadcasts of American and British Parliaments and still believe it would be possible for our Parliament to rig up a few remote cameras to capture the proceedings live on KBC and Citizen (it’s only a few afternoon hours during the week) but how would this scene play out to viewers at home?

Finally the speaker announced that they were unable to muster a quorum and he adjourned the Thursday session till 230 on Tuesday - unbelievably, that a four and a half day weekend!

He then marched out escorted between two sergeants, one who carried the ceremonial mace, and MPs happily filed out behind him to the lounge, their offices, their cars, and their lives.

And that’s an hour of a day at parliament.

There have been a lot of inquiries about information on members who are no longer MPs, or who passed away while still in office. We still keep data for those on the site, and indeed now you can search for them, as well as see them in the member listing

The distinction is also made when you view the list of MPs

We are about halfway through with updating the member profiles. We expect the process to be complete by this weekend (World Cup notwithstanding). As you will notice some of the member profiles are very thin (and in some cases non-existent), we need your help to fill them out especially when it comes to contact information and email addresses in particular. Do you have your MPs contact? Do you have an MPs business card sitting in your wallet? If so please, please, please help us make it easier for Kenyans to get in touch with their representatives…after all they work for us.  Send us whatever information you have via the contact page or leave a comment.

A number of people have suggested availing the current bills currently either under or about to be debated. We’ve done one better. Not only can you see them, you can also search their text

Many thanks for all the feedback and the corrections and the ideas. Keep them coming!

What a better way to spend Madaraka day than polishing mzalendo.com some more?

- Fixed some few issues with the Member Query

- Cleaned up the UI in most of the pages

- Corrected the issue where some gibberish like characters were appearing in the Bills section

- Now most of the pages have sort functionality — you can sort the data

- One or two other changes that escape us at present