Long list of complaints against honourable members

MPs switching their loyalties to parties that did not sponsor them to Parliament are engaged in illegal and corrupt activities, a report by Transparency International has said.

The culture of defections disappeared after rules were put in place to strengthen Parliament. To bend the rules, it became more convenient for MPs wishing to switch alliances from their mother parties to do so without formally indicating to their parties or writing to the Speaker.

The state of affairs where MPs party hop with abandon can be attributed to lack of provisions in the standing orders or the constitution that empower political parties to de-whip MPs who fail to obey party constitutions. “This has obvious implications on integrity of the representation function of Parliament.

The choice of party is a consideration that voters make when electing MPs. For an MP to take the decision of switching party allegiances midstream his/her parliamentary term therefore violates the pact s/he made with voters during elections,” the report says.

It adds that the honourable thing for such an MP to do would be to seek a fresh mandate from voters. An MP can also lose their seat if they communicate to the speaker in writing that they have abandoned the party that sponsored them to the House.

The report also accuses MPs of abusing the mileage claims system. Besides the falsification of claims, MPs still continue to receive the allowance irrespective of whether or not they make journeys to their constituencies.

“There is need, therefore, to tighten the provisions regarding mileage by requiring MPs to give better supporting documentation as proof before payments can be made,” TI recommends. Integrity issues pertaining to management of CDF have also been documented extensively.

In two cases, MPs successfully threatened to shoot down the national Budget on account of failure by the minister for Finance to increase CDF allocations and timely release of the same. This leads to distorted budgeting as the Treasury is forced to revise the National Budget to merely placate MPs.

Such actions compromise the integrity of parliament as the promoter of public interest. On the recruitment of parliamentary staff done in the last two years, the report says a significant number of new staff are related to the members of the PSC by blood or marriage.