What Marende's ruling means for Kenya coalition

National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende on Tuesday threw the controversy over who should lead the powerful House Business Committee back to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

But he also delivered a ruling that asserted the National Accord, which ended the post-election violence early last year, and attacked the powers of the President to make public appointments unilaterally.

Mr Marende temporarily took over the chairmanship of the committee which determines the agenda for parliamentary proceedings, but said he would relinquish the post when the President and PM finally agree on who should be Leader of Government Business.

Ended stalemate

In doing so, Mr Marende ended the stalemate which had stalled business in the House after Mr Odinga and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka both claimed the right to be Leader of Government Business.

“Honourable Members, with profound respect, and much regret, I therefore rule that the Speaker will await the name of one minister consensually designated by the government as the Leader of Government Business,” Mr Marende said.

He added: “I have taken these extraordinary measures in the firm belief that the extraordinary situation in which this House, and by extension, this country finds itself in, calls for them. In so doing, I have been guided by what I believe to be in the best interests of this House and our nation.”

President Kibaki had followed tradition and written to Mr Marende nominating Mr Musyoka both as Leader of Government Business and chairman of the House Business Committee. But Mr Odinga had written another letter naming himself to the post by virtue of being coordinator and supervisor of government functions.

The wrangling had stalled proceedings in the House for a week because there was no committee to set the agenda for Parliament. Three Cabinet meetings were also cancelled because of the wrangles.

Reacting to Tuesday’s ruling, Mr Musyoka said the PNU Coalition would seek interpretation of the dispute by the Constitutional court. Mr Odinga welcomed the pronouncement and said the two principals should not wait for the Speaker to tell them what they should do.

Mr Marende gave the examples of the German, Tanzanian, Ugandan, Indian and New Zealand parliaments as some of the countries where the Speaker chairs the House Business Committee.
He regretted that his attempts to meet President Kibaki and Mr Odinga to resolve the matter had been unsuccessful.

In a 62-minute ruling that was widely hailed by MPs as a wise decision, Mr Marende unlocked the one-week deadlock that had paralysed Parliament’s business and threatened the government’s stability.

The Speaker threw a wild card, surprising the MPs when he declared himself the chairman of the House Business Committee, pending the nomination of a bona fide chair by the government. But Mr Musyoka who has been Leader of Government Business since 10th Parliament was inaugurated more than a year ago, dismissed the ruling as “an assault on the Presidency”.

“The consultation called for was false, since the President has the power to appoint the Leader of Government Business,” he said.

Mr Musyoka said PNU would move to court to get an interpretation of the relationship between the National Accord and the Constitution.

The VP, who throughout the debate on HBC, sat on the chair reserved for the Leader of Government Business, said the Speaker’s ruling had “set a bad precedent”.

And in welcoming the ruling, Mr Odinga, who has now joined the House Business Committee said: “The matter should not even have come here (to Parliament) since there should have been consultations between the President and myself… they (Kibaki side of the government) should stop behaving as if this is the old government.” Mr Odinga, who was not in Parliament during the debate, said the matter will be handled by the Permanent Committee on the Management of the Grand Coalition.

He asked the government to consult and move with speed to determine the leader of its business in the House, saying his decision was guided by what he believed to be the best interest of Parliament and the nation.

“It is the expectation of this House that the designation will be made in good faith, through consultation and willingness to compromise, within reasonable time,” he said, probably setting the stage for future consultation on House matters by the coalition government principals.

But the Speaker as an ex-officio member of the 21-person ODM-dominated team that sets out the Parliament’s agenda will not have a vote despite chairing the crucial committee.

By his ruling, Mr Marende quashed the President’s appointment of Mr Musyoka as the chair of the HBC. The verdict also closed the curtain on Mr Odinga’s self-appointment as chair of the committee.

And with the ruling, an agreed list, including Mr Odinga’s name, was tabled in the House and passed by MPs, effectively limiting the options for Mr Musyoka chairing the team.

The Speaker steered clear of the controversies in the coalition government, restricting himself to legislative matters that mainly focused on putting parliamentary business back on track.
“We must unlock the business of the House,” he said.

Mr Marende invoked House rules that allowed him to chair the committee even without the Leader of Government Business in the House.“I urge all members to resolve with one accord in common bond united, that the important business entrusted to us by the people shall not, shall never, be allowed to stall,” Mr Marende told a quiet House.

“I am clear in my mind that the Constitution and the National Accord contemplate only one indivisible government of the Republic of Kenya,” ruled Mr Marende.

He added: “And where the Speaker is faced with a situation eliciting uncertainty as to a designation made by the government, such uncertainty is not for the Speaker to resolve.”

The current situation the country was in, Mr Marende said, would not allow him to choose one of the letters as the acceptable one from the government. “To do so would be to miss the point with regard to the situation we are in,” he said.

His role while acting chairman will be limited to facilitate parliamentary business while functions which require specific action by the Leader of Government Business will be suspended.

Among the suspended rules is a provision under Standing Order 36 (4) which requires the Leader of Government Business to present the Government’s parliamentary diary every Thursday for 15 minutes. The suspension would be lifted once President Kibaki and Mr Odinga agree on a minister to hold the contentious a position.

Mr Marende said the provision that the government nominates a member did not “secure appointment”.

In suspending PNU’s argument that the President held the prerogative of determining the Leader of Government Business, Mr Marende said it was upon the Executive to choose the person to push the government’s agenda in Parliament.

Appointing authority

“He or she stands in a similar position as does a minister of government, so that while the House might express its dissatisfaction in him or her and possibly even censure him, the ultimate decision whether to exit remains on the individual or the appointing authority,” he said.

On the appointment of the Leader of Government Business, the Speaker ruled that there should have been a consensus in line with the agreement signed between Mr Odinga and President Kibaki. He said the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, now part of the Constitution, should always be the guide in the country’s progress.

“An accord was painstakingly negotiated as the country waited with bated breath… these words were uttered before the whole world. Do they mean anything? Do the signatories to them intend them to mean anything?” he asked.

Reported by Eric Shimoli, Njeri Rugene and Alphonce Shiundu