Deputy Speaker says removal of a proposal on party-hopping stands
What you need to know:
- MPs appear to have defied a previous ruling by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, who ordered that a motion forming the 14-member select team, co-chaired by Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi (Jubilee) and Siaya Senator James Orengo (Cord), could not be amended.
- Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Majority Leader Aden Duale said Ms Laboso, whose attempt to suspend debate on the report — tabled on Wednesday by Taveta MP Naomi Shabaan — was thwarted by MPs, will have to make a ruling on the matter.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso has ruled that the removal of a proposal on party hopping will stand as it was infringing on the Bill of Rights.
MPs had appeared to have defied a previous ruling by National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, who ordered that a motion forming the 14-member select team, co-chaired by Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi (Jubilee) and Siaya Senator James Orengo (Cord), could not be amended.
Speaking at a press conference earlier on Thursday, Majority Leader Aden Duale said Ms Laboso, whose attempt to suspend debate on the report — tabled on Wednesday by Taveta MP Naomi Shabaan — was thwarted by MPs, would have to make a ruling on the matter.
“The deputy Speaker will have to make a ruling whether a ruling that the mother motion cannot be amended can be violated to make changes to the baby or product of the motion,” he said.
Mr Duale, the Garissa Township MP, said Jubilee MPs had been instructed not to introduce further amendments to the report, which has been endorsed by both President Uhuru Kenyatta and Cord leader Raila Odinga, so as not to mutilate its core substance.
The lawmaker, who was accompanied by Jubilee Chief Whip Katoo Ole Metito and Nyaribari Chache MP Richard Tongi, said were changes to be introduced to some of the main “thematic areas” of the committee’s mandate, such as a mechanism for removing electoral body commissioners, it would water down the entire report.
He said the issue of party hopping, which had raised emotions in the House on Wednesday, was a “forgone conclusion” as MPs had succeeded in introducing amendments, and Jubilee, while appealing to their counterparts in Cord, was trying to mitigate further changes.
He, however, criticized MPs for deleting a section barring party hopping, saying if they were “politicians enough” they should decamp to other smaller parties if they felt the bigger ones were unlikely to conduct fair nominations, way before the deadline by which politicians are allowed to choose parties or stand as independent candidates.
Mr Metito said with the Senate having approved the report during a special sitting, a mediation team of senators and MPs would have to be set up to come up with a mediated version as provided for in parliamentary standing orders.
