mzalendo :: Eye On Kenyan Parliament

MP Peter Kenneth of Gatanga constituency has followed in the footsteps of Prof. Anyang Nyong’o and has set up a rather informative constituency website, which has details on the constituency’s profile, recent projects, and CDF allocation.

We hope other MPs follow suit and realize that there is much to be gained by keeping their constituents informed.

EDIT: Another fantastic website is Bahari constituency website that’s been set up by MP Joe Khamisi (hat tip Osas!)

So the official Parliament website was finally relaunched on December 16, with much fanfare and grand proclamations. Speaker Francis Kaparo referred to the website as “dynamic and international.” We are not quite sure about that…what we do know that it is still very outdated. One wonders why it has been down for all this time if nothing much as changed, not to mention the fact that it is a bit absurd to relaunch the website just when Parliament is going into a three month recess.

In any event, this is good news for the Kenyan public and for Mzalendo. IF the website is updated regularly, we can focus on indexing and collating data much in the same way like theyworkforyou (for those wondering where the Hansard is, it’s coming…we are just working hard to present it in a user friendly way). A little bird tells us that eventually the hansard and other data will be presented in XML, therefore making it easier for sites like ours to work with the info. We hope the bird is right.

A fantastic report from one of our roving reporters.

6:15 to 7:30 PM on Thursday December 7 (the last day of the 2006 parliament)

The final hours of parliament in 2006 was punctuated by a furious debate between the government and opposition. MP’s from bothsides stood to debate on a motion moved earlier in the day to adjourn parliament (as scheduled) till around March next year. Government MP’s were for the move while opposition MP’s were against the motion arguing that crucial bills should be passed first.

MP Wangari Mathai spoke saying she hoped MP’s would usetheir time off to engage in constructive dialogue, healing and peace making

MP Henry Kosgey opposing the adjournment said that there was a lot more work to be done. On agriculture, he said it was a myth that farmers were enjoying boom times. He said that the cost of inputs (fertiliser, furl & transport) had all shot up to an extent that maize, milk, and other farmers were not making money regardless of the improved market prices. He also deplored the state of insecurity.

Minister Njenga Karume said the government had worked hard and accomplished a lot this year and that MP’s should go home and oversee CDF projects that they (should have) started and were on-going.

MP Arungah opposed motion saying that parliament has passed about 40 bills in four years - which is what other countries parliaments do that in a single year. He said that even though parliament had improved and passed over 20 bills this year, there were many more crucial ones that had to be passed.

MP’s Angwenyi and Midiwo on more than one occasion called for the speaker to call for a vote on the issue, but each time the speaker said he would let all MP’s speak, who were willing.

And today there were many, who wished to contribute on the last day. As each member concluded his speech, several would stand up straight to catch the speaker’s attention and be next. Also almost all members speaking were interrupted by “point of order” interjections from other members, which required them to sit down and listen as clarification of their statement was asked for.

MP Paddy Ahenda said that they had not been able to contribute many bills since the government had enticed many of their members like Minister Nyachae over to the other side where they had become “toothless bulldogs.” Nyachae stood on a point of order and said that this was the first time anyone had ever questioned his performance credentials. Ahenda then withdrew his statement saying that what he meant was that the government had taken many of their most vibrant/articulate members of the opposition to their side.

MP Joe Nyagah argued against adjournment saying that parliament had not passed many bills, which had been introduced, and these would all die. One of them is a vital anti-money laundering bill, which he brought to the house

Assistant Minister Machage (a doctor) stood and said that the irritability & combativeness of members we were witnessing, and the frequent passage of bills without quorum are all symptoms of fatigue among members and the remedy of this is rest & relaxation i.e. adjournment. MP Ayacko stood on a point of order to challenge the minister saying that he has cast aspersions on the health of all of them, including the speaker and that “is he claiming that the work parliament is doing is illegal (passing bills without quorum)?” Machage said he had been misunderstood it is a fact (lack of quorum) but maintained that members need the holiday break.

Minister Amos Kimunya argued for the adjournment saying that the government had done its work, and parliament had passed the bills, which were ready. He mentioned that sitting for another week or two would not necessarily mean that any more bills would be passed. He said members could continue to work on bills through committees over the next few months. One MP stood on a point of order to state the committee work ended on December 1. Kimunya clarified that members could meet over the break at other venues away from parliament and fine-tune bills. He added that it was mockery for half-hearted/incomplete bills to be brought to the house for members to making a hundred amendments to them. He also urged them to consider the parliamentary staff who had already made holiday plans with their families and ended by urging MP’s to go home and work on the CDF projects they had with the funds that had been allocated to them.

MP Sirma argued that the state of insecurity was bad. He also mentioned the killing of political parties in this parliament to which Asst. Minister Raphael Wanjala replied that KANU itself had killed FORD – splitting it into four parties.

Minister John Michuki made a brief speech supporting adjournment. Throughout his speech members of the oppositions made hissing sounds until he sat down.

Assistant Minister Moroto also spoke about insecurity saying the Kenya Army had killed his people.

MP Nkaissery (a former Army General) challenged Moroto for questioning the integrity of the armed forces. He asked how Moroto could question integrity of armed forces? He said that the current president (Mwai Kibaki) was at the time of that operation the chairman of the committee on security and authorised it and they never killed anybody, only arrested cattle rustlers. This lively argument between the two members cheered on by the rest of the house looked to be getting out of hand and the speaker ejected both Moroto and Nkaissery from the chambers for the rest of the day. Assistant Minister Kamama also rushed to the front of the house without being invited by the speaker and asked about Nkaissery’s statement was also ejected for revisiting the matter.

Assistant Minister Kiunjuri spoke for adjournment saying that oppositions MP’s were against adjournment since they were ashamed/afraid of going home because this government has worked hard and delivered and yet they would be defeated to explain to their constituents what they had accomplished during all the years they were in charge.

MP Mutula Kilonzo said the house should not adjourn until the matter of Kenya’s representatives at the East African Legislative Assembly is settled since it is holding up their work in Arusha. He was challenged on that point by Ministers Martha Karua and John Koech.

MP Anthony Kimetto was against adjournment but he would vote for it if only the government would add roads funds to the CDF kitty, as they had promised. He said MP’s want to go home, but cannot because of the poor state of their roads. He added that the only good roads were those to Ministers homes – a point which was immediately challenged by Roads Minister Nyachae who said that they had worked very hard in the year to reduce the number of impassable roads in the country, and added that the road to his home area (and that of Minister Konchellah) was one of the worst roads.

Other observations:
- One opposition MP made the point that member bills they contribute are rarely heard since ¾ of the time is allocated to government business/bills

- One MP (opposition) stood to say that his party had not given him a chance to speak this year and just wanted to say a word before parliament adjourned for the year.

This hour of debate was very lively and there were 60 to 90 members throughout even though it was well past the typical 6:30 PM deadline when parliament usually adjourns. The opposition numbers would ebb and flow while the government side maintained a solid block through the hour, always appearing to have a slight majority of numbers. The speaker gave his ruling at 7:30 saying that he would allow all willing members to continue with their contributions/be heard.

Later on parliament adjourned after 7:45 PM and read on in the standing orders about the division bell where votes are counted.

- Quirk for the Lit Fest crowd: standing orders also require an MP to stick to the language he starts his speech. I.e. start in English, argue throughout in English, or start in Swahili give your speech in Swahili – so no back and forth switch between languages which would sound like sheng

Toward the end of the second last day before a four month Christmas holiday for holders of the best job in Kenya, debate and bills were passed with about 40 MP’s present including ministers Michuki, Karua, Nyachae, assistants Mungatana, Kiunjuri, Machage, Wamwere, Mugo, Kibunguchy. Justin Muturi led the opposition bench.

Energy bill passed

The second reading of the energy bill contained numerous changes, which had been made by MP’s at the committee stage, and all amendments had to be announced and passed separately. So for almost an hour the sequence of dialogue was like;
(Temporary) speaker: “section 54 be passed”
Assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri would stand up and “propose that section 54 as amended in the order paper be passed”

Speaker: “vote for section 54 as amended in the order paper be passed,

All those in favour say AYE – all MP’s “AYE”

All those opposed say NAY – MP’s silent

The Aye’s have it

Section 55

Then

Section 56

Or section 99 – 101 same routines went on with occasional breaks.

As each section was read, sometimes an MP would step up and call for slight tweaks in the bill e.g. MP Weya asked that electrical appliances be added to a list of regulated/standardized equipment imported into the country while MP Olweny successfully lobbied for wording to the effect that bill would encourage/enable sugar to be promoted as a source of electricity production

After all the clauses, had been clear and supplements had been approved, Kiunjuri asked that the second reading be passed.

Then energy minister Kiraitu Murungi stood and thanked MP’ of both sides of the house and the energy committees’ members for their contributions. He said he would work hard to ensure that electricity was distributed throughout Kenya.

Assistant minister Machage then added that, even as he recognised that the minister was hard working and committed and able to do his tasks, he urged the Minister to look into the rural electrification program which has lapsed.

After that the 3rd reading of the bill was announced, the Energy Bill was passed with unanimous AYES

HIV Aids prevention and management bill

Assistant minister Enoch Kibungucy announced the second reading of the bill. A committee represented by MP Maoka Maore had no changes/amendments and approved of the bill, so minister called for 3 rd reading of the bill, which also passed with unanimous “Aye’s.” MP Maore then warned that the recent statistics showing AIDS prevalence had declined should not lull Kenyans into a false state of safety and that the disease was still a major threat

The business of the day basically done and most MP’s slowly drifted out of the chamber.

Pubic accounts committee report

MP Magara (opp.) proposed adoption of two pubic accounts committee’s report of the government accounts for the years 1999 - 2001. He would not take much time but chose to highlight two items

- That procurement and renovation of a parliamentary building was featured in the report. He said that to this day, building which is still not adequate for most MP’s and yet its renovation costs were almost as much as the building cost itself - and he hoped that action had by now been taken on that matter, saying parliament should be a model institution in the use of public funds

- 100 million shillings from the education budget were paid towards the construction of colleges in the 90’s and yet nothing was done

MP Arunga (govt) seconded the report, but added that it was sad that the report was discussing misappropriations that happened/were investigated 5 years ago. He hoped that these reports/investigations would be made more current otherwise corruption would never end.
He believed that government knows how several instance of recurring corruption take place but had not put effective measures in place to curb it. He highlighted:

- Tax collection where a company that owed the government 2 billion in taxes, was advised by the KRA to go to court and challenge payment of the amount

- Also no taxes are paid (by many companies) for goods in transit. The goods are sold locally yet their documents are stamped all along the road indicating that they left the country

- Roads are still being constructed at inflated prices. He said he built a road in his home area for ½ million shillings yet a nearby road constructed by the ministry was billed to the government at 6X the amount per kilometre. He lamented that contractors have become very rich by fleecing the government through road construction He said a well known technique was for a contractor to bid for the same contract using several dummy companies – thereafter the lower bids companies which were awarded the contracts would withdraw from the process, leaving the higher priced contracts in place to do the job. He also said roads collapse each year because of overweight loads, which are allowed only because bribes are paid at the weighbridges. He lamented that this has gone on for years, yet committees are always discussing things many years later. He said that by the time parliament discusses what happened this year, Minister Michuki will have retired and be herding goats at home.

Michuki got up and commented to the house that the MP was being presumptuous as he had no goats.

Arunga then replied that he meant to say that he’ll have retired and be watching over his (Windsor) hotel.

Michuki stood again to challenge this remark and asked the MP to withdraw his remarks since he does not control/know the destiny of the Minister. Arunga then withdrew his comment

MP Syongoh (opp.) said it was a shame they were discussing accounts of 5 years ago. He urged the government to speed up computerisation of revenue collection and appropriations. He said unless things change, the government would not investigate Anglo Leasing till 10 years down the road.

Assistant Minister Koigi Wamwere said he had toured many roads and lamented the corruption in road construction. He had visited parts of the country where roads were paid for but never built. He said road contractors themselves cut corners and are ignorant about how many years roads they build should last, adding that it was shameful that roads built by colonialists lasted for 30 years while roads we build can’t survive 3 years He also said that the Attorney General has failed in the advice that he gave the Moi government as well the current one and as such, they have gotten into contracts that have ripped off the country. He said the AG should have retired long ago, but keeps up at his job to the detriment of citizens

It was now 6:30 and the Speaker adjourned the house proceedings to the next day when the committee could continue with its presentation.