Bid mounts to oust Namwamba

Chairman of the Parliamentary Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Ababu Namwamba. Photo/FILE

What you need to know:

Minority report sparks dispute

The row in the committee has been simmering ever since the chairman, Mr Namwamba, joined Mr Aluoch and Ms Odhiambo to file a minority report rejecting the committee’s resolution on the controversial nominations of constitutional office holders.

Six members of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs on Wednesday continued to pile pressure for the ouster of their chairman Ababu Namwamba. (READ: PNU plot against Namwamba)

In a letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr Patrick Gichohi, they said Mr Namwamba had to pack his bags from the helm of the crucial team following what they termed “mismanagement of the committee”.

“Issues of confidence (in our chairman) are not negotiable. One either has confidence or not and your intervention and/or removal of members does not change the fact that the majority do not have confidence in the chair,” the MPs told the Clerk.

The MPs are vice-chairman Njoroge Baiya, Mutava Musyimi (Gachoka), Eugene Wamalwa (Saboti), Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu), George Nyamweya (nominated) and Amina Abdalla (nominated). Mr Wamalwa did not sign the letter.

Another MP who has been linked to the group pushing for Mr Namwamba’s removal is Ms Sofia Abdi Noor (nominated).

However, she was not party to the letter, which was also copied to House Speaker Kenneth Marende.

The MPs complained that there were eight counts of mismanagement against Mr Namwamba alongside three others for his decision to “politicise the no-confidence vote”.

“(The chairman) further uses public platforms to insult members of the committee in total contravention of Standing Orders,” read the letter.

The committee is critical in the implementation of the Constitution in that it is the one that scrutinises all constitutional Bills before they are tabled in Parliament for debate.

Other members of the committee are Mr Olago Aluoch and nominated MP Millie Odhiambo, who, together with Mr Namwamba, belong to the ODM wing allied to Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The MPs who appended their signatures complained that Parliament’s delay in convening a meeting to kick out the Budalang’i MP would “paralyse the committee’s work”.

“We therefore urge your office and that of the Speaker to urgently convene a meeting to resolve the problem,” they said.

The MPs regretted that despite the Clerk writing to the 11-member committee inviting them for a meeting on Wednesday, it was cancelled at the eleventh hour.

“Despite the 11th hour cancellation of the meeting, we find it intriguing on your part to ignore our letter of February 21, 2011, regarding the lack of confidence in our former chairman in accordance with standing order 175,” the MPs wrote.

The Clerk was not around on that date and that is why the matter was referred to the Liaison Committee, chaired by Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim for arbitration and consequent action.