Jittery House wants action on urgent Bills

Parliament has given ministries up to Thursday this week to provide it with a timetable for drafting laws required to implement the new Constitution.

The House is alarmed by the slow pace of writing Bills set out in the Constitution. It now wants the process hastened.

Bills are initiated by line ministries and drafted by the Kenya Law Reform Commission (KLRC) and the Attorney-General’s Chambers.
Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee on the Constitution, warned time was running out.

“We want enough Bills in the next couple of weeks. Soon we will start discussing the Budget and it is important that we pass the required Bills first,” said the MP whose team is mandated to shepherd the process.

During his address to Parliament last month, President Kibaki outlined 25 Bills which needed to be debated and passed urgently. Out of those, only three have been tabled.

The House has to pass 25 Bills before August 27. But only two of the Bills are expected in Parliament this week. Many others are still being discussed by the Committee on Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) and other stakeholders.

Four of the Bills relate to elections, political parties and Parliament, two on the Judiciary, four on public finance and another four on security.

There are also four Bills on devolution, another four on the Bill of Rights and Citizenship, while the rest are on the Public Service and Leadership.

The Constitution says Parliament can be dissolved if it fails to meet the deadlines for enacting the new laws.

“Parliament cannot work on Bills that are not before the House. It is therefore up to the relevant arms to bring the Bills to Parliament and I can assure that they will be handled with the speed required,” Mr Mohammed said.

Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chairman Ababu Namwamba said MPs could easily be sent home if they failed to meet deadlines, resulting in a crisis.

“Unlike the formation of the commissions which was delayed but had no consequences, the failure to meet the constitutional deadlines has dire sanctions for Parliament. We will therefore need to bring the House to this reality,” he said.

The KLRC, the CIC, AG Chambers and the Ministry of Justice are the key bodies involved in the drafting of the laws before Parliament debates and enacts them.

Nairobi Metropolitan Development minister Njeru Githae told Parliament last week the four agencies would henceforth hold joint sittings to examine and amend Bills, reducing the time wasted as they are shuffled from one office to another.

Transport minister Amos Kimunya said Bill preparation was complicated by the lengthy mechanism set out in the new Constitution. The oversight committee, however, sees AG Amos Wako as part of the problem.

“We see the continued holding of office of the current Attorney-General as an impediment to the reform process. The current Attorney-General has been an impediment to reforms in this country. Even though the Constitution really does not bar him from holding office until August this year, really, it is part of the problem in terms of the reform environment,” Mr Mohammed told Parliament last week.

Other than the new laws, the Constitution requires that all the existing commissions be re-constituted and three others put in place by August. Parliament is also supposed to amend some of the existing laws so that they are consistent with the new Constitution.

The new commissions are The National Land Commission, the Commission on Revenue Allocation and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Those to be reconstituted are the Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, the Parliamentary Service Commission, the Public Service Commission (PSC), the Teachers Service Commission and the National Police Service Commission.

Other expected changes

The Judicial Service Commission has already been reconstituted.

Other key changes expected before August 27 include the replacement of former Chief Justice Evan Gicheru and Attorney General Amos Wako. The CJ has already vacated office and the recruitment of a new one is ongoing.