Intrigues, lobbying behind new law

Intrigues, drama and intense behind-the-scenes lobbying characterised the enactment of the Security Laws (Amendment) Act, fresh details reveal.

TNA chairman MP Johnson Sakaja said the intrigues became evident from the moment the Bill was published last week.

“From the time the Bill was published, we received a lot of concerns from members of the public and Cord,” he said.

However, the nominated Jubilee MP said that the concerns had been addressed and the government side was reading from the same script by Thursday when the Bill was passed in the National Assembly.

“At the earlier stages I am aware there were concerns but we tried to reach a certain level of consensus. We argued that in an as much as people have different interests, we had to put the interest of the nation ahead of everything else,” Mr Sakaja said.

CORD TO CHALLENGE LAWS
There were initial concerns that some of the proposed amendments were unconstitutional, forcing changes in the final document signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday after an acrimonious parliamentary sitting.

But Cord and sections of the civil society have vowed to challenge the laws in court from Monday.

Mr Sakaja, however, conceded that the negotiations within Jubilee and at the joint meetings of the parliamentary committees of Justice and Legal Affairs and Administration and National Security were tough.

“The members of the two committees sat until around midnight on Wednesday and ironed out everything. But I would not be surprised if certain individuals were unhappy,” Mr Sakaja added.

The formal publication of the new law, Solicitor-General Njee Muturi told the Sunday Nation, will be done Monday.

“It shall come into force upon publication as stated in Clause 1 of the Act,”Mr Muturi said.

The publication is also expected to set in motion the next phase of tough legal battles between the Opposition Cord and the Jubilee administration reminiscent of the presidential election petition at the Supreme Court in March last year.
SEEKING LEGAL REDRESS
Sources within Cord said the Opposition intended to move to court to challenge the constitutionality and the process by which it was passed in Parliament.

Another ground Cord intends to raise is the exclusion of the Senate from participating in the enactment of the law.

Speaking in Nyatike, Migori County, on Saturday, Cord leader Raila Odinga confirmed the Opposition will move to court to stop the controversial laws from being implemented.

But he said the option of calling for protests was also available. 

He spoke as other Cord legislators reiterated the plan to seek legal redress. “Such a Bill should have come to the Senate for discussion and if there are issues, returned to the National Assembly as the law dictates but we did not see that happen,” Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama said on Saturday in Nairobi.

Additionally, he said, parliamentary standing orders do not allow for voting to take place when legislators are standing and heckling but Speaker Justin Muturi allowed it to happen “so he needs to tell us if he had an interest”.

“These are just some of the issues but we have constituted a team of lawyers to work on the details,” he said.

MUTHAMA TO SUE
A number of civil society organisations are also understood to be preparing a separate suit though there are discussions with Cord to file a single case against the law.

Seven Cord MPs are also preparing to individually sue Jubilee legislators whom they claim assaulted them in Parliament. They are Senate Majority Leader Moses Wetang’ula, senators Boni Khalwale, James Orengo, Janet Ong’era, Elizabeth Ongoro, Mr Muthama and Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati.

On Saturday, Senator Muthama said he was specifically going for MPs Kimani Ngunjiri, Joseph Kiuna, Muthomi Njuki and James Mwangi Gakuya whom he alleges assaulted him.

Before the Bill was passed in the National Assembly, State House had set in motion a high-level lobbying that allowed little room for compromise as President Kenyatta rallied his Jubilee Alliance MPs to pass the law at whatever cost.

Mr Muturi, the Solicitor General, was said to be at the forefront to have the Jubilee MPs back the Bill. The Solicitor-General was on Thursday in Parliament working the phones between State House and the MPs.

INSECURITY ISSUE

“Njee (Mr Muturi) was all over Parliament on Thursday running up and down to ensure the Bill sails through in the National Assembly,” Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar told the Sunday Nation.

A large section of Muslim MPs were said to have been uncomfortable with some provisions, particularly Clause 31 of the Bill that was granting the director in charge of registration of persons power to cancel registration and revoke an identity card.

“There was a feeling that the government wanted to shift its focus from insecurity to the Kenyan Somalis and round up individuals in the manner they had done before in Eastleigh,” an MP who requested not to be named for disclosing internal coalition matters said.