Kilome MP Harun Mwau/ File
MPs risk passing shoddy laws, warns MwauNAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 8 – Kilome MP Harun Mwau on Monday raised the red flag over the hurried process of implementing the Constitution, saying Parliament risked passing shoddy Bills to beat the August 27 deadline.
Mr Mwau said that there was need to extend the fast approaching deadline to avoid passing unconstitutional laws noting that there were 19 Bills that ought to be passed within the next two weeks.
He further criticised the implementation actors for delaying the Bills arguing that they were to blame for the backlash that MPs were likely to face for the holdup.
“We knew one year ago that we needed to get these legislations so each line ministry which was involved should have drafted their respective Bill, in compliance with the Constitution, but that did not happen!” he said.
Some of the Bills that are yet to be enacted include those on Article 59 commissions, Police Bills, the Commission on Revenue Allocation Bill, the Independent Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission Bill, the Ratification of Treaties Bill, the Employment and Labour Court Bill and the Elections Bill.
Others include Bills on Citizenship, Urban Areas and Cities Bill, the Public Finance Management Bill, Power of Mercy Bill and the Environment and Land Court Bill.
The Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) is scheduled to hold another review meeting with the implementation actors on August 9, and then propose a way forward. CIOC had also announced that MPs may be forced to take up the creation of Bills as Private Member’s Motions.
Mr Mwau however disapproved the enactment of Bills as private Motions saying the process risked being politicised.
“We are a very unusual type of people. Even when a particular MP drafts a very good Bill people start reading sinister motives; we start having tugs-of-war. That is why we thought it would be best for the Bills to come from outside,” he said.
The former assistant minister spoke after a visit to the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) where he made a personal donation of Sh500,000 to the Kenyans4Kenya initiative.
Red Cross Secretary General Abbas Gullet noted that several MPs had been streaming into the KRCS to make their contribution with Kathiani MP Wavinya Ndeti donating Sh200,000 last week.
So far two consignments of food have been flagged off to various drought stricken parts of the country. The first batch was flagged off on July 30 and was headed to Turkana North, Turkana Central as well as other parts of Turkana.
It will benefit about 21,000 families for the next six months and it cost about Sh18.4 million raised by common Kenyan citizens.
On August 6 the second consignment, containing eight trucks of 150 metric tonnes of specialised nutritional food, was flagged off to Garissa, Wajir and Mandera. The second batch was flagged off after a corporate fund raising event for the Kenyans4Kenya initiative that saw Kenyans raise more than half a billion shillings.
Mr Gullet explained that the next consignment of food would be flagged off later this week, to Marsabit, Moyale, Isiolo, Mwingi, Kitui, Kibwezi, Kilifi, Kwale, Lamu, East and West Pokot, Samburu, Kieni, lower parts of Makueni and some parts of Murang’a.
“While we ask the international community and the whole world to help us we also believe that God helps those who help themselves so it’s good that Kenyans from all walks of life have come in to help their own,” he said.
Mr Mwau however challenged the government to put in place long term facilities that will mitigate the effects of drought in the event that it recurs.
He also asked his associates to contribute to the initiative and help feed the starving masses.
“You cannot have rain if there is no moisture on the ground evaporating to form the clouds. So the government must now, as a matter of urgency, ensure that there are adequate dams to preserve water so that if the sun’s rays heat it the evaporation will create clouds,” he explained.
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