MPs reluctant to create new laws to allow private sector lobby them

Reluctance by MPs and delays by the private sector have prevented the creation of an organised system through which the private sector can lobby MPs whenever they want their interests considered in law or policy making.

Despite working on the Private Sector Bill over the last six years and the positive response for the idea at this year’s Speaker’s Roundtable with the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, the year ended without much progress on the proposed law.

MPs also rejected the proposal by the Parliamentary Service Commission and the Powers and Privileges Committee for the creation of an independent office to monitor standards and ethics in Parliament.

Last week, the British Broadcasting Corporation revealed the extent to which private companies go to influence law making and policy formulation, with British American Tobacco smoked out for activities as recent as 2012.

“The BAT bribery scandal exposed by the BBC leaves a sour taste in the mouth and is an eye-opener on how the private sector and public sector weave webs of corruption,” Majority Leader Aden Duale said last week.

Mr Duale spoke as the Jubilee Alliance demanded that Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula, part of an Opposition that is vocal about corruption in the government, step aside in light of the revelations of his dalliance with business entities when he was in government.

PRIVATE SECTOR BILL

The idea for the Private Sector Bill had been presented at the June meeting in Mombasa.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said on Thursday there has not been much activity after that.
“They have not progressed it but I did advise that they needed to be in touch with two main committees; the Committee on Finance, Trade and Planning and the Justice and Legal Affairs because it will touch on matters to do with ethics so that lobbying is not confused for bribery,” said Mr Muturi in an interview.

“Those who need to lobby Parliament don’t need to pay Members because in any case, Members exist to be lobbied. Even when they go out to their constituencies, what they come to speak about here is the interests of the people they represent, who lobby them to represent their interests,” he added.

Mr Muturi said private businesses should not feel constrained in seeking to have their needs addressed by MPs but should keep it within legal limits.
“If the law were to be passed, lobbyists then would be required to register themselves so that if someone is pushing a particular agenda, it is known that this is what you are doing,” said the Speaker.

In Parliament, lobbying is known to go beyond the legal limits and the hand of the private sector is often not only seen but felt whenever matters that affect them come up.

A more recent example would be in the preparation of the Excise Duty Act, where the Finance, Trade and Planning Committee came up with a completely different model of taxation for cigarettes.

While they were not accused of any impropriety, former head of trade for East Africa for BAT and now Balambala MP Abdikadir Omar Aden pointed out that the four-tier system proposed by the Finance team had been tried and dropped before.

“The one which is being introduced has a number of limitations. Price wars within the industry are going to be a problem, which is going to make the Government lose revenue,” said Mr Aden.
That position was supported by the International Institute for Legislative Affairs, a Christian lobby group that campaigns against tobacco.