The futility of grabbing the mace in Parliament

CORD Members of Parliament protest outside Parliament on December 18, 2014 during debate on Security Amendment Bill 2014. Photo| Jeff Angote | Nation Media Group.

What you need to know:

  • Parliamentary histrionics, such as seen in the past week, a favourite among leaders who have no popularity add no value to a country that is trying to present a united front.
  • Right now, the country is busy trying to repel terrorists and attract tourists.
  • Nobody should be allowed to stand in the way with unnecessary drama.

One of the greatest reliefs about the occurrences in Parliament during debate on the Security Laws this week was the fact that none of the honourable members succeeded in grabbing the mace.

Water was splashed on faces, pants were torn and honourable potentates physically floored with fisticuffs but the mace could not be reached since it was guarded by a phalanx of orderlies.

The action of grabbing the mace — the wooden club that symbolises the authority donated to the National Assembly by the Queen — is the zenith of parliamentary protest everywhere around the world because for all its importance, Parliament cannot proceed with any business without its totem of power in place.

It is likely that without the mace in place, the Speaker would be speechless, and majoritarian tyranny of numbers enjoyed by the Jubilee coalition in the National Assembly would collapse like a house of cards.

Parliamentary protest is a type of cheap publicity stunt employed by people with waning political careers, as happened with Mr Michael Heseltine, then spokesman for the opposition in the United Kingdom, who grabbed the mace and held it over his head, instantly earning the nickname Tarzan.

It happened way back in 1976, after a heated debate over Labour government’s plans to nationalise the aircraft and shipbuilding industries, which ended in a tie broken by the Speaker’s vote.
Closer home, on June 19, 1997, police sealed off Parliament Buildings to prevent demonstrators from picketing against the reading of the annual Budget.

Inside the chamber, opposition MPs heckled and jeered as then Finance Minister Musalia Mudavadi mouthed the Budget Statement, with then President Daniel arap Moi sitting stolidly through the proceedings.

STOOD TO LEAVE

When Mr Moi stood to leave, the MPs on the Opposition benches remained seated in a show of disrespect.

The live transmission of the event on national radio and television was cut off after MP Maoka Maore attempted to seize the mace.
The protests were largely to demand dialogue on reforming the Constitution as well as repealing laws to allow public assembly, free elections and other liberties.

Before year-end, the ruling party and the Opposition had come together under the aegis of the Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group initiative to push through minimum reforms ahead of that year’s elections, demonstrating the futility of parliamentary protest.
More recently, on January 15, 2008, ODM MPs remained seated when President Mwai Kibaki walked into the chamber to signal their refusal to recognise his re-election.

They had hoped that their insolence alone would force Mr Kibaki to resign from the presidency.

SIGNIFICANT DIFFICULTY

A few had significant difficulty with their own oaths, with Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba swearing loyalty to ‘President Raila Amolo Odinga’.

Six weeks later, Mr Odinga referred to Mr Kibaki as his President, paving the way for a coalition government in which the two antagonists would share power for five years.
The affliction has spread to Uganda, where last year, MPs attempted to grab the mace, forcing the Speaker to station two orderlies as guards over it.
Parliamentary histrionics, such as seen in the past week, a favourite among leaders who have no popularity add no value to a country that is trying to present a united front.

If political parties do not have numbers, they should learn to be quiet and wait until the next election to try their luck with the voters.

Right now, the country is busy trying to repel terrorists and attract tourists.

Nobody should be allowed to stand in the way with unnecessary drama.