Standing Orders cannot be changed on a whim

After the removal of Kilifi Member of Parliament Gideon Mung'aro from the position of Chief Whip in Parliament, the Orange Democratic Party has gone ahead and removed four more Members of Parliament from their seats in parliamentary committees.

Those relieved of their duties were Ken Obura who served on the Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee, Samwel Arama who was on the Public Accounts and Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee, Dalmas Otieno of the Administration and National Security Committee and Zainab Chidzuga who served on the Environment and Natural Resources and Delegated Legislation Committee.

Political parties reserve the right to appoint and remove members from committees and, as confirmed by the Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi, ODM's action is fait accompli.

In a move that highlights the scant understanding of House rules and disdain for the rule of law, legislators from the ruling Jubilee Coalition have sought to change the Standing Orders to suit their designs in protecting those removed from their positions by the Orange Democratic Movement.

Such a move only serves to give credence to the claim that the four MPs were moles within the Opposition.

Yet wise counsel cautions that those who live in glass houses don't throw stones.

URP, a partner in the Jubilee coalition, has sought to discipline party members perceived not to be toeing the party line.

Warnings have been sent to those who, it is believed, are promoting the ideologies of other parties.

Similarly, TNA (its other main partner) has been trying to discipline a party member who, it is claimed, fixed President Uhuru Kenyatta in the crimes against humanity case at the International Criminal Court.

Only last month, UDF sought to expel party members it felt were working counter to the party.

The intervention of the Registrar of Political Parties put the decision on hold.

Except for the few cases where people seek to settle their personal differences, political parties must maintain discipline and espouse its ideology.

Earlier, embarrassed by repeated and blatant disregard of party directives, the Wiper Democratic Party recalled two officials it sponsored in Makueni and Machakos counties. This was in a bid to restore order.

This succeeded. Members of the two county assemblies toned down and thereby set the ball rolling for political parties to crack the whip on errant members, if only to give purpose to the empty politics characterised by tribalism, nepotism, corruption and anathema.

In as much as we decry the lack of democracy within parties and the country at large, it is the leaders who have refused to encompass the tenets of democracy, preferring to do things their own way, usually taking parties as personal property. Political parties discipline is not negotiable.

Coherency and order must be maintained.

Parties have the right to eject members who continually distract them from achieving their desired goals for democracy freedom, discipline and responsibility.