MPs vote overwhelmingly to extend deadline for passing crucial Bills by nine months

Nairobi, Kenya: MPs unanimously voted for a nine-month extension of the constitutional deadline within which to approve six laws. They also approved the second stage of the first Bill to amend the Constitution to deny the national government the control of Sh3.4 billion for marginalised constituencies.

They also approved the County Allocation of Revenue Bill, 2014, to allow each of the 47 counties to access the Sh226 billion disbursed from the national government.

It was a triple win for the lawmakers, coming after a series of meetings, and one major meeting held early yesterday to lobby them to show up in the House and approve the extension, and the two Bills.

The lawmakers, worried of a legal deadline and the looming expiry of the current one that ends on August 26 – next Wednesday – voted 266-0 to ensure that the six Bills got the nine-month extension. Some 248 MPs voted electronically, while 18, who had forgotten their electronic cards, voted manually.

Speaker Justin Muturi had warned MPs that they should raise two-thirds of the membership of the House – 233 MPs – and that all of them had to vote ‘Yes’ for the extension to be granted as prescribed in the Constitution.

As if on cue, the MPs agreed with the Speaker and voted unanimously.

It was a busy day for the party whips in the Jubilee and CORD coalitions as they were seen hovering in the parliamentary corridors calling MPs to the House to make sure that there were adequate numbers to postpone the deadline.

Extend deadline

Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee chairman Njoroge Baiya (Githunguri) said it was crucial for the MPs to extend the deadline, because some of the Bills had not even made it to the floor of the House.

“The blame for this delay does not go to Parliament, it goes to the Executive for not being able to put these Bills together on time,” said Baiya.

The Bills are: The Public Service (Values and Principles) Bill, the Persons Deprived of Liberty Bill and the Environmental Management and Coordination (amendment) Bill. All of them have been introduced in the august House.

Those to do with fair administrative action, fair hearing, accounts and audits of public entities, and procurement of goods and services have not reached Parliament yet.

Deputy Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo (Gem) said because some of the Bills had not even been drafted, the House needed nine months to wait for the drafting, public hearings and publication of the Bills, their introduction for debate and approval in the House.

Midiwo also accused the Executive of frustrating the implementation of some of the laws enacted by the House.

“That we are here in our numbers to try to keep the process of implementation of the Constitution alive and kicking is a plus to us,” said Midiwo.

He said the Consumer Protection Act, which he had sponsored, was put on ice soon after assent. “The President assented to that Bill in 2012 and until today, the body to manage it has never been operationalised or even appointed,” said Midiwo.

Despite threatening to punish Senate for including a controversial amendment to the Public Finance Management Act, the MPs failed to make their voice heard through action.