Marende: House may overlook committee over Bills

Kenya's Parliament could side step the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee in deliberations over two Bills on implementation of the Constitution under consideration.

House Speaker Kenneth Marende said Tuesday there are precedents that allow MPs to debate and suggest amendments to Bills at the second reading without necessarily involving the committee.

The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee is locked in a protracted row over an attempt by eight of its 11 members to remove Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba as chairman.

“There is no golden rule that says it is the only committee that can prepare the report on the Bill,” said Mr Marende.

“Committees [exercise] delegated authority on behalf of the House and the House is at liberty to delegate to whichever organ it deems appropriate to exercise that mandate if that organ, for instance, is failing,” said Mr Marende.

Whole House

Parliament is allowed 10 days for the relevant committee to discuss and prepare a report on a Bill before it is taken back to the House for the second reading, where actual debate begins.

The fear has been that with the wrangling in the Justice Committee, progress on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Bill and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Bill could be halted.

The Speaker suggested that further infighting within the committee could be side-stepped by having the whole House take over that work and do it in the plenary as a Committee of the Whole House.

Mr Marende also defended the House against blame over the delayed preparation of the Bills considered crucial in the implementation of the new set of laws.

“As far as I’m concerned, speaking for the Legislature, the larger blame lies with the Government. Those Bills which were brought to Parliament did not arrive until just last week and they are only two,” he said.

“Speaking for Parliament, we shall do our job but everybody must do their job. We cannot be faulted,” he added.

China

Mr Marende was speaking after a meeting with Mr Li Changchun, an official of the Communist Party of China, at Parliament Buildings.

Mr Changchun said the Chinese Government has agreed to give Kenya the equivalent of Sh9.5 billion as a soft loan for developments in the education and health sectors.

It has also promised to double the number of scholarships offered to Kenyan students this year.

“We hope that more outstanding Kenyan students can study in China,” said Mr Changchun.

Mr Changchun, who is also a member of the Communist Party of China’s politburo committee, said the party would also seek links with Kenyan political parties.

He said the Africa office of the China Central Television, China  Radio International and Xinhua news service would be encouraged to provide coverage of Kenya as a travel destination to attract more Chinese nationals.

There are about 57 million tourists from China annually, according to Mr Changchun, but statistics from the Tourism ministry indicate only about 20,000 of these visit Kenya.