Constitution: State rushes to beat deadline

By Alex Ndegwa

Parliament’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee was Wednesday disbanded, as the Government raced against time to enact urgent Bills expected to be finalised before Saturday next week.

Bickering between President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) side of the Coalition Government has for over six months crippled the committee.

All Bills had since then been handled by Members of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC), chaired by Mandera Central MP, Mohamed Abdikadir.

President Kibaki will today (Thursday) chair a Cabinet meeting to discuss fast-tracking of crucial Bills. [PHOTO: FILE /STANDARD]

That was until the PNU-ODM party differences again surfaced in CIOC during parliamentary debate on Tuesday. President Kibaki will Thursday chair another Cabinet meeting to fast-track Bills that the reconstituted committee is supposed to handle.

The meeting comes barely two days after the Cabinet approved three key Bills, among them, the Independent Ethics and Anti-Corruption Bill 2011.

The proposed law establishes an Independent Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, which will replace the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. The new commission will enforce the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act 2003, and other statutes that have anti-corruption and economic crimes-related provisions.

New team

The House Business Committee on Tuesday evening resolved that the moribund Justice and Legal Affairs Committee be reconstituted.

Joint Government Whips Jakoyo Midiwo and Johnstone Muthama were instructed to immediately draw up a list of new members for their parties.

The two whips are expected to submit the fresh list to the House Business Committee during its next meeting next Tuesday. Earlier this week, a scheduled meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee aborted for lack of quorum.

HBC hopes that the coalition parties would agree on a new team without protracted squabbles so that the list can be tabled in Parliament for approval next Thursday.

The latest effort to revive the stalled committee was influenced by the ugly spectacle in the House on Tuesday, when members voted on amendments to the Political Parties Bill.

Members of the CIOC, which had prepared a raft of amendments, clashed when the proposals came up for a vote.

At one point, CIOC ODM members Rachael Shebesh and Ababu Namwamba attempted to strip Turkana Central MP Ekwe Ethuro of the role to lead amendments on behalf of the committee.

They claimed Ethuro, a PNU MP, had not been faithful to the cause and had voted against the committee amendment.

But Temporary Speaker Joyce Laboso ruled that there was no way to determine how Ethuro had voted during the verbal vote.

This was during an acrimonious debate at which the CIOC amendment to the Political Parties Bill to outlaw pre-election coalitions was defeated.

The outcome to uphold coalitions before or after elections was seen as a triumph in Parliament for the so-called G-7 Alliance over Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s ODM.

Instructively, members who wrangled at the Legal Affairs Committee were on opposite ends of the debate, which took the usual ODM versus PNU-rebel ODM lines.

Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto backed pre-election coalitions whereas Namwamba opposed.

Speaker Kenneth Marende had directed the CIOC to scrutinises Bills after a leadership clash crippled the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.

The committee became dysfunctional following the abortive ouster of Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba.

On Tuesday, the HBC prescribed the shock therapy after two past proposals to reconcile the warring members failed.

The Liaison Committee chaired by Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim was supposed to meet to elect a chairman to replace Namwamba. But members who passed a vote of no confidence against Namwamba claimed the Liaison Committee frustrated these efforts to shield the ODM member.

No-confidence

Subsequently, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka — as Leader of Government Business in Parliament — was asked to resolve the stalemate.

It is understood that the political compromise floated was for ODM to propose a replacement to Namwamba, who had fallen out with PNU members.

But the other camp protested that an election had to be a contest — but ODM was not keen as the post would have been wrested from the party, whose members were outnumbered.

Wednesday, the issue spilled to the floor of the House, where the Chepalungu MP demanded that the chairman sheds light on reports of the HBC dissolving the committee.

Ruto said nowhere did the Standing Orders give HBC have powers to dissolve select committees.

"We are aware there’s a lot of concerted efforts from several quarters to sabotage the Legal Affairs Committee," he said.

Ruto said the Liaison Committee had failed to convene a meeting to elect a new chairman even after majority members had passed a no-confidence vote in the then chairman in accordance with the Standing Orders.

But Kisumu Town West MP Olago-Aluoch said he was no longer a member of the committee since ODM had pulled out. In May, ODM withdrew its membership from the committee, further escalating the crisis.

Maalim, who presided over House proceedings Wednesday declined to address Ruto’s concerns saying he was not privy to HBC discussions.

Maalim did not yield despite pressure by Ruto who said the chairman could not feign ignorance as he headed the Liaison Committee, made up of leaders of House committees.

"The chair is not privy to information you are alluding to, and hence cannot give direction on an issue he is not aware of," Maalim said, dismissing further intervention by nominated MP Amina Abdallah, a member of the troubled team.

Olago had cited a letter he addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly, explaining why he would not honour the committee meeting.

In the letter dated August 15, Olago sought clarification on two issues before confirming attendance — one, whether the committee’s membership had been reconstituted as ODM had withdrawn, and two, whether an attempt had been made to resolve the deadlock in a fair manner.

Falling out

He said unless the concerns were addressed, it was pointless to convene a meeting of the committee.

In an earlier letter, Namwamba had complained to the Clerk that his office continued to receive notices of meetings of "the said defunct committee".

"This is to remind you that I ceased being a member of the defunct Justice and Legal Affairs Committee months ago, and accordingly please exclude my name from being associated with any future business in respect of the same," Namwamba wrote in the letter dated August 10.

The plot to oust Namwamba began in February, his departure apparently hastened by the falling out in the committee over the investigation into the disputed nominations of three judicial offices – the Chief Justice, the Attorney-General and Director of Public Prosecutions, which the President eventually withdrew.