House Speaker Justin Muturi chastises MPs for bad conduct

The National Assembly director of committee services, Ms Florence Abonyo, will now be required to take attendance of MPs in the House committees, Speaker Justin Muturi announced on Wednesday. He warned those who fail to take their committee work seriously that they would be removed.

Mr Muturi made the comments as the integrity of the House committees came into question after a complaint from Majority Leader Aden Duale that members are not taking the business of the House seriously.

The Kenyan Parliament, just like those of the United States and United Kingdom, transacts its business in committees.

GENERAL MISCONDUCT

The trend in the 12th Parliament has been allegations that if MPs are not fighting each other in Parliament or outside, they are either misbehaving in the committees or busy rent seeking.

The Powers and Privileges committee chaired by the Speaker is already handling cases of assault and general misconduct involving some MPs.

“You can’t be in a committee yet you have never attended any of its committee meetings. You should be removed!” Mr Muturi said.

Unlike before when MPs would openly abuse their privileges - attending committees only to sign for Sh5,000 sitting allowance per session and leaving immediately without contributing - this time the committee clerks will be required to document how long members stay in their committees.

FRIENDS OF COMMITTEES

Mr Muturi was also firm that members should not become friends of committees merely because a person from “your village is just appearing to give information.” Even as the speaker issued this warning, some committees and their leadership were on the spot regarding conduct of their members.

The Energy committee chaired by Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria was among those whose conduct was questioned.

The committee members, including their chairman and the vice chairperson Dr Robert Pukose (Endebes) are said to have attended a retreat believed to have been sponsored by Kenya Power.

BAD NAME

The committee and the managing director of Kenya Power Mr Ken Tarus would later be captured in a group photo in one of the posh hotels outside Nairobi.

Mr Duale and his leader of minority colleague John Mbadi (Suba South) blamed the MPs for giving parliament a bad name. Mr Duale took issue with the committee members, who openly hug individuals they invite to give evidence.

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Editor's Note: This report has been updated to remove erroneous references to Saboti MP Caleb Amisi. We apologise to Mr Amisi for any embarrassment caused by the article.