NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 16 – Garissa Township MP Aden Duale has warned that MPs opposed to the contentious Elections (Amendment) Bill may result in disrupting sittings convened by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee if their demand for a Special Select Committee to seek consensus is not approved.
The former Majority Leader who is a close ally of Deputy President William Ruto warned of chaotic scenes similar to the ones in 2015 when a group of MPs calling themselves Friends of Finance Committee disrupted the grilling of the Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru over graft at the National Youth Service.
“We may witness a failed Committee of the Whole House and all Members who have issues with the Bill may decide to attend the JLAC meetings and bring more chaos… you can remember, Mr Speaker, for many of us who were in the 11th Parliament.
He requested the Speaker to defer committing the Bill to JLAC for some two day to allow MPs to consult across the political divide which would then propose Members to a Special Committee which should consider the Bill and undertake extensive public participation and thereafter report to this House.
However, Leader of Majority Amos Kimunya (Kipipiri) and JLAC Chairman Muturi Kigano (Kangema) said the threats are yet another attempt by the MPs allied to the DP to delay debate on laws which is critical to the country holding free, fair and credible polls.
“There is a tendency in this House for members not to consider themselves to exercise a national responsibility, they will view everything in terms of polarization then it is impossible for us to legislate smoothly, it is as if they are opposing just for the sake of opposing,” Kigano stated.
The first attempt to take the Bill through the formal introduction was frustrated after the UDA-allied MPs voted to defeat a motion to reduce its publication period from 14 days to five.
“I see, Duale’s contribution as just another continuation of that filibustering because it is so clear from the Standing Orders that once a Bill is read for the first time it shall be committed to the relevant departmental committee,” Kimunya added.
House Speaker Justin Muturi directed the matter to proceed on for public participation but urged MPs against treating the matter of elections as ‘a matter of life and death.’
The stirred heated debate among political players is set to be informally introduced in the National Assembly during this afternoon’s sitting.
The Bill which is sponsored by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission which seeks to have alternative methods to be deployed to relay results during the August 9 polls, has received criticism from opposing political camps.
