House to debate rules for removing Speaker from office

Parliament in session during the 2016 burget day on 8th June,2016. Picture; Boniface Okendo

In its sunset days, the National Assembly is expected to consider methods of removing a rogue Speaker and reining in unruly members.

The procedure for removing the Speaker of the assembly from office is among a raft of amendments that will be debated by the House in the next few days.

The 11th Parliament has been operating without written rules to govern the removal of a Speaker, which means that any decision in case of such an eventuality is left to the discretion of the Speaker.

While the Standing Orders only provide a procedure for the election of a new Speaker at the beginning of a new Parliament and when a vacancy arises in the office, there are no rules to be followed when a member seeks  the Speaker's removal.

"This (Speaker's removal) is among a raft of proposals that members have proposed to the Standing Orders. However, they will need to be fine-tuned before they are tabled and eventually adopted by the House," a source in Parliament told The Standard.

Monday, former Speaker of the National Assembly, Francis ole Kaparo expressed shock that the Standing Orders did not have a procedure for the removal of the Speaker. Mr Kaparo said he was perplexed that the 11th Parliament had been operating without rules of procedure and debate on such a crucial matter.

"There must be a way of dealing with the removal of the Speaker. During my time, it was there. The danger is that a House without such rules could go rogue... Even when the procedure is in the Constitution, the provisions must be domesticated in the standing orders," Mr Kaparo, who once survived an attempt to hound him out of office in a move orchestrated by former Ugenya MP and current Siaya Senator James Orengo, said.

Although the Constitution provides that the Speaker can be removed from office if the motion for removal is supported by two-thirds of MPs, it adds that "each House of Parliament may establish committees, and shall make Standing Orders for the orderly conduct of its proceedings..."

Ironically, the Standing Orders have set the rules of debate in the impeachment of the President, Deputy President and Cabinet secretaries but are silent on how the House should conduct business when a motion for the Speaker's removal is on the floor of the House.

Members will also approve a proposal to create a Special Funds Accounts Committee (SIFAC) to deal with key funds such as the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), Equalisation Fund and Uwezo Fund. The new committee is also proposed to deal with audited accounts of political parties.

Some members have also proposed to block MPs who sit in the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) from chairing House committees in what a source in Parliament said "will allow them enough time to concentrate on PSC work".

Rogue members of the 12th Parliament might be forced to contend with