Parliament adjourns critical business over lack of quorum

What you need to know:

  • Sources told the Business Daily that Jubilee MPs were held up at a Parliamentary Group meeting called by Deputy President William Ruto at his Karen residence.

Parliament adjourned its sittings this morning for lack of quorum paralysing critical business that MPs were to transact.

Only 12 MPs were present in the House at the time deputy Speaker Dr Joyce Laboso adjourned the the proceedings due to lack of the requisite 50 members to transact business.

“Unfortunately members, I have no option other than to adjourn the sittings to this 2.30 PM. We have extended time beyond the required 10 minutes within which the bell is supposed to be rung to get the necessary quorum. This is a House of rules and therefore we have no option but to adjourn the morning sitting,” she ruled after it became apparent the numbers to allow business to be transacted would not be attained.

The 12 MPs were from the Opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord). Only Amina Abadalla and Moses Lesonet from the ruling Jubilee coalition were present in the House at the time of adjournment.

Sources told the Business Daily that Jubilee MPs were held up at a Parliamentary Group meeting called by Deputy President William Ruto at his Karen residence.

The lack of quorum disrupted the passage of the Finance Bill, 2016 and the Warehouse Receipts System Bill, 2015 through its third reading.
The Finance Bill formulates the proposals announced in the budget for 2016/17 relating to liability to and collection of taxes.

The Bill amends various statutes including the Retirement Benefits Act, the Kenya Revenue Authority Act, Capital Markets Act, Banking Act, Alcoholic Drinks Control Act, Kenya Deposit Insurance Act, the Public Finance Management Act, Tax Appeals Tribunal Act and Special Economic Zones Act among other laws.

Marketing challenges

The Warehouse Receipts System Bill seeks to provide a legal framework for the development and regulation of warehouse receipt system for agricultural commodities to address marketing challenges associated with cereals and grain subsectors in Kenya.

Also interrupted was the scrutiny and passage of the Civil Aviation (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which were to be processed through the committee stage and the third reading.

The Civil Aviation (Amendment) Bill, 2016 amends amend the Civil Aviation Act, 2013 to address the findings of the International Civil Aviation Organization audit (ICAO) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) technical review for International Audit Safety Assessment Category I Status (IASA CAT 1) as well as incorporating Articles of the Chicago Convention that had not been captured in the Act.

Category 1 is a certification issued by America’s FAA after assessing a country’s physical infrastructure such as airports before allowing direct flights.
The assessment also measures the ability of a country’s aviation authority to hold airlines flying to the US to international standards.

Kenya is banking on the passage of the Bill to help her meet the last of the long list of conditions the US authorities had set before opening its skies for direct flights from Nairobi.

The Bill sponsored by the government through Leader of majority Aden Duale, addresses key concerns such as security and the independence of the aviation sector regulator.