MPs unhappy with Marende’s handling of House team row

Speaker Kenneth Marende’s roots in ODM have come back to haunt him over his handling of the protracted wrangling in the crucial Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.

Mr Marende ruled last Wednesday that the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee would scrutinise and consider the public’s views on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Bill.

But his decision has been criticised by Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo as well as a majority of the members of the committee rocked by infighting.

Although he has been consistently perceived to interpret the law correctly and give “Solomonic” decisions on complex legal and political matters, the latest controversy puts the Speaker in a tight spot.

Mr Marende was criticised by the PNU wing of the ruling coalition earlier this year when he ruled to prevent the nomination of the Chief Justice, Director of Public Prosecutions, Attorney-General and Controller of Budget.

But he eventually came out on top when President Kibaki withdrew the names to allow for the process to go through the Judicial Service Commission.

The Speaker came to the House as the MP for Emuhaya elected on an ODM ticket and has acted admirably in shedding the image that he would lean towards his party whenever the shenanigans of the coalition government spill over into Parliament.

Mr Marende said the House Business Committee had expressed concerns over the “inability” of the Justice and Legal Affairs team and asked for his direction as the wrangles could lead to delays in the implementation of the Constitution.

“I direct that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Bill, 2011 be committed to the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) for study and review,” Mr Marende then ruled.

There was an immediate protest on the floor by PNU Nominated MP Amina Abdalla, who is a member of the committee, despite the fact the Speaker’s ruling is considered final, and MPs are not allowed to question it.

She said that his description that the Justice Committee is unable to resolve the matter was unfair, given that he was aware that the office of Deputy Speaker had been unable to resolve the matter.

Seven members of the committee have since written to Mr Marende to protest over his ruling and have accused him of leaning towards ODM in his handling of the matter.

They are vice chairman Njoroge Baiya (Safina), George Nyamweya (PNU), Isaac Ruto (ODM), Eugene Wamalwa (PNU), Abdikadir Mohammed (Safina), Mutava Musyimi (PNU) and Amina Abdalla (Kanu).

“The fact remains that a key institution of the National Assembly is moribund, not because of the inability of the membership to resolve problems but frustration of the committee by your office,” the MPs said in their letter.

The MPs said they have suffered frustrations in their bid to replace Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba as chairman.

“We are perturbed by the fact that you keep telling the House that you have not received communication on the same from the chair of the Liaison Committee – the Deputy Speaker,” the MPs said.

“It is the committee’s perception that your office is allowing ODM to use the (House Business and Liaison) committees to frustrate the operation of the Justice and Legal Affairs committee.”

Responded to debate

Mr Marende’s decision was also criticised by Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo when he responded to debate on the IEBC Bill before it was passed at the Second Reading.

Mr Kilonzo said it would be wrong to have a committee whose members are also ministers scrutinise a Bill they already examined and approved at the Cabinet level.

Although his views on the resolution of the dispute are different, Mr Kilonzo maintained that the ruling was wrong.

“I took exception to the ruling because the Speaker appears to be protecting the two principals and the grand coalition.

The organisation of departmental committees should be straightforward but the Speaker went into the mud created by other people with his ruling,” Mr Kilonzo told the Sunday Nation.

Mr Kilonzo said the work of Parliament’s departmental committees is to withdraw the hand of the Executive in the law-making process and in turn consider views from the public.

Mr Marende normally does not respond to MPs when they make statements to the media, preferring instead to address their concerns in the chamber.

There are chances that the CIOC could also be asked to vet the nominees for the positions of Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice.

“Without the Justice and Legal Affairs committee in place, will the Executive (the ministers in the CIOC) sit to prepare to vet Willy Mutunga and Nancy Barasa?” Mr Mutula asked.

It is understood that the protesting MPs have also met the Speaker to express their dissatisfaction.

“The ball is now in their (Speaker and Deputy Speaker) court. They have reduced the committee into moribund status and it is now upon them to untie it,” Mr Baiya said on Saturday.

The oversight team announced last Thursday that it would begin examining the Bill and will start considering input from the public next Tuesday.

The Justice minister also raised another matter that had remained in the background since the row over Mr Namwamba’s leadership of the committee began.

He argued that the deadline given by the Speaker could jeopardise plans to have the next General Election in August next year over the creation of the 80 new constituencies.

The Constitution requires that the new constituencies be in place 12 months before the next elections, he argued, and the deadline means the IEBC could be in office later than July.

The IEBC Bill gives the new team five months to sort out the delimitation of the new boundaries, and this means they could only do this by December, Mr Kilonzo said.