Legislators are vindictive and have abused their authority

Chapter 6 of our Constitution on leadership and integrity stipulates that authority assigned to a state officer, such as an MP, is a public trust to be exercised in a manner that demonstrates respect for people and institutions, brings honour and dignity to the office, and promotes public confidence in the integrity of that office or organ.

That trust should also vest in the state officer ‘a responsibility to serve the people, rather than rule over them’. The Constitution also requires that these state officers, MPs included, exercise ‘objectivity and impartiality in decision making, and in ensuring that decisions are not influenced by improper motives’.

This week, the lower House of Parliament approved budget estimates for the next fiscal year but irrationally slashed allocations for the Senate, Judiciary and Salaries and Renumeration Commission (SRC) as a punitive measure for their perceived opposition to its hegemony. In their debate and vote on the matter, it was made plain that their action was driven by malice and revenge, and was discriminatory and lacked integrity, contravening the above provisions of the Constitution. In their characteristic rage and noise, they also disregarded Article 10 of the Constitution, which requires any state organ that ‘enacts any law or makes public policy decision’ to be bound by national values.

I posit that this House has abused its authority and powers to allocate resources, and is in plain breach of the above provisions of the Constitution, and should be sanctioned. We must not allow complacency in abuse of the Constitution by any institution, and certainly not by an institution that should lead others in fidelity to law. An abuse of entrusted power in the manner rudely demonstrated by the lower House is corruption, period! Traditionally, Parliament has sovereignty and can make any law. However, it cannot legislate or make public policy decisions contrary to the rule of law.

Their beef with the Judiciary is the court’s decision to outlaw their pet fund, the Constituency Development Fund. Under the new dispensation, this fund and a myriad others under their patronage ought to have been channeled to the county governments. Despite the court’s orders to stop the fund in a few more months’ time, they went ahead to allocate it Sh35 billion, an expression of impunity and disregard for the basic tenets of laws.

A compliant Executive, always fearful of the House’s rogue behaviour, has in recent years abdicated its resource allocation role and is a feeble observer in this farcical illusion by MPs. The reasons for the punitive retribution of SRC are known to all and sundry. For the Senate, it is the additional funds it voted for the counties in the Division of Revenue Bill that pricked the MPs. The Senate has a mandate to legislate as it deems fit, and is not bound by the desire to appease any quarters as MPs do. Neither are Senators rent-seekers in the execution of their national duty. The Senate desires to entrench devolution in our nation, both financially and functionally, and safeguard it from the jaws of saboteurs like MPs.

Parliament imposes taxes, and allocates the revenues generated to benefit the public. If the desired results as per the budget appropriation are not achieved, it is their responsibility to determine why through exercise of their oversight role. It is not befitting of a house of parliament to allocate resources as a favour, or deny it as a punishment. Neither of these institutions was found to have misused resources, and hence deserved financial strangulation.

Many Kenyans would be forgiven if they thought that under the new dispensation, political patronage would no longer influence resource allocation.

No wonder our national development priorities continue to inevitably remain underfunded as an institution led by leaders who are penny wise and pound foolish arbitrarily allocate resources.