Committee makes changes to Bill that Kibaki rejected

A parliamentary committee has accepted President Kibaki’s memorandum to House rejecting the County Government Bill but proposed further amendments aimed at appeasing members.

The Committee on Local Authorities agreed with the President by removing the contentious Clause 30 that MPs inserted during the second stage of the legislative process.

Committee members proposed that the clause giving county governors powers to chair security meeting equivalent to the National Security Council be deleted from the Bill.

President Kibaki declined to assent to the Bill on February 27, saying it should be amended to be in sync with the Constitution.

House Speaker Kenneth Marende had directed the committee chaired by Kinangop MP David Ngugi to review the concerns raised by the President in the memo and report to the House within seven days.

In its report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, members of the committee further proposed amendments to Clause 54 by introducing a new sub-clause that establishes a county inter-governmental forum that would be chaired by the governor.

The forum would be responsible for the harmonisation of services rendered in the county and coordination of inter-governmental functions, among other issues.

When issuing the directive, Marende noted that the President questioned the legality of the Bill as amended by Parliament during debate. Members had the option of adopting the President’s recommendations in totality or in part before the Bill is resubmitted to him for assent.

It emerged on Wednesday that if legislators had rejected the amendments and decided to pass the Bill in its original form, they would be required to garner the support of 65 per cent of the House.

A week ago when Marende received the President’s memo, a number of legislators raised critical concerns surrounding the procedure, noting that the Bill’s timeline had lapsed.

Gwassi MP John Mbadi sought directions from the Speaker on whether or not the Memorandum violated Article 261 of the Constitution, as read together with the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.

When ruling on the matter on Wednesday, Marende noted that the County Governments Bill was one of those that were required to be enacted within a period of 18 months from August 27, 2010.

The Speaker in his ruling noted the President’s right to refuse to assent to a Bill and to return it to Parliament with a Memorandum could not be taken away by the expiry of the period for enactment provided for under Article 261 of the Constitution.

Marende directed that the House proceed to dispose of the Memorandum from the President through the