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Nyachae doesn’t understand Parliament – Muturi

Muturi said the Commission had no business meddling in the affairs of Parliament.

Muturi said the Commission had no business meddling in the affairs of Parliament.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 4 – Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi has dared the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) to go to court over its opposition to the review of House Standing Orders to allow Cabinet Secretaries to respond to questions.

Muturi said the Commission had no business meddling in the affairs of Parliament.

“I happily welcome them because I assure you no Court will direct Parliament on how to run its affairs; the authority to create committees of Parliament and the responsibility to create committees is solely vested in the houses of Parliament – so how many committees we create, the purpose thereof is the business of Parliament,” said Muturi.

Two days ago CIC Chairman Charles Nyachae urged Parliament to revoke the order which it declared unconstitutional. Nyachae said Parliament was abusing its powers and privileges threatening court action in order to seek an interpretation.

The National Assembly Speaker however termed the Commissions’ threats as a bid to stay relevant.

“Nyachae and his team don’t seem to understand how Parliament works, so if they want to spend public money going to court, they are at liberty to do so because first of all they have not understood that Parliament has a committee on implementation, so that when a Cabinet Secretary appears before the committee on general oversight and makes certain commitments, that matter is then picked up by the committee on implementation for follow-up and reports to the plenary,” posed Muturi.

Last month the National Assembly amended the Standing Orders to form a general oversight committee to be chaired by the Speaker and whose members comprise all MPs to sit every Tuesday morning and question Cabinet Secretaries.

Prior to this, questions to the different ministries were taken by heads of the relevant departmental committees and responded to in consultation with the Cabinet Secretaries.

Interior and National Coordination CS Joseph Ole Lenku, Lands CS Charity Ngilu and Education CS Jacob Kaimenyi are expected to appear before MPs October 14.

The CSs have already complained that the requirement would take a toll on them as they already have lots of other responsibilities.

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The threat by CIC comes at a time when Parliament has accused the courts of undermining its role in legislation.

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