Fresh bid to form MPs’ oversight committees

The Leader of the Majority Coalition in the National Assembly, Aden Duale, said if everything goes to plan, the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) would submit their list of names for the committees to the Speaker and Clerk of the National Assembly by the end of day Tuesday/FILE

The Leader of the Majority Coalition in the National Assembly, Aden Duale, said if everything goes to plan, the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) would submit their list of names for the committees to the Speaker and Clerk of the National Assembly by the end of day Tuesday.

“We are going to table the list when our colleagues from the CORD coalition bring theirs but of yesterday (Monday) they had agreed to do consultation and they were to give their names by this afternoon,” Duale said.

The CORD coalition had on May 7 threatened to withdraw its members from all parliamentary committees that have so far been constituted and refused to nominate members to any other committees unless they were given the chairmanship of the PAC and PIC as well as the membership majority.

Following a Jubilee Alliance Parliamentary group meeting at a Nairobi hotel on Tuesday, Duale reiterated his alliance’s position that although they were willing to concede as far as the chairmanship went, they would not give up the membership majority.

“If CORD wants to hold the majority then the procedure in the Standing Orders is clear that they go through the Procedure and House rules committee, they bring an amendment to the Standing Order through the committee chaired by the Speaker then the report is brought for approval or rejection. So we have no problem if they will amend the standing orders,” Duale said.

It remains to be seen whether the CORD coalition will back down on their demand for the majority in PAC and PIC after accusing the Jubilee Alliance of using its numerical advantage to frustrate its oversight role as the opposition.

Duale added that the Jubilee Alliance would form a panel to provide financial and logistical support to affiliated MPs facing election petitions: “We have agreed where the petition concerns our members, we will form a committee that will help our members in terms of logistics and finances.”

About The Author

OLIVE BURROWS

With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.

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