House must seal loopholes to avoid sneaking of questionable laws

By Alex Ndegwa

If anyone needed more persuasion to do away with the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill practice, then the attempt by Government to sneak in a hefty pay raise for MPs on Thursday evening settled the case.

The bid by Attorney General Amos Wako, which would have handed ministers hefty perks, was yet another stark reminder that the discard of the omnibus legislation (a Bill seeking to make changes to several existing laws) is long overdue.

Minutes earlier, the Government had attempted to push through an amendment to the Interpretation and General Provisions Act, which was meant to eradicate confusion arising from creation of new offices. But MPs read some mischief and shot down the proposal.

All these illustrate the omnibus is no longer being used for the intended purpose but has become an avenue to sneak in questionable amendments. Ideally, Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bills are vehicles for making minor technical and non-controversial amendments to Acts.

They allow amendments that would not usually receive sufficient priority. This is achieved with the support of all MPs. Essentially, the originators of the omnibus legislation meant to remove minor cobwebs from existing laws without the bureaucratic hassle of preparing separate Bills.

The method must not be abused to make substantive amendments to existing law, effect policy changes with far reaching implications or to restructure the State through the parliamentary guillotine.

Yet that is precisely what the AG was doing by seeking to amend the National Assembly and Remuneration Act to legislate hefty responsibility allowances for the VP, PM, ministers and MPs. It is besides the point to argue they are already earning the pay or hide under the cover House rules allow the mover to propose amendments to a section without notice. The point is a substantive change to the Act cannot be done in such a casual and clumsy manner.

Not amused

No wonder even Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs, Defence Assistant Minister Joseph Nkaissery and MPs Martha Karua, Silas Ruteere, Njoroge Baiya and Millie Odhiambo were not amused.

The botched amendment to the Interpretation and General Provisions Act, though intended to remedy a practical problem such as the turf wars between the ministries of Medical Services and Public Health, was inappropriate in the approach.

Had it been passed, it would have allowed the Government to, for instance, move a department or its functions to another ministry without going through Motions to change the law. But MPs argued such drastic changes needed to be approved through a Bill if a presidential circular wasn’t good enough.

But the AG was simply performing what has become a ritual. Before the Ninth Parliament was sent home, MPs awarded themselves a tidy Sh1.4 billion golden handshake through the same process in 2007.

The same Parliament had in one fell swoop endorsed a crucial clause buried in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2007, that effectively barred the anti-graft agency from probing corruption cases committed before it was established in 2003.

As the Tenth Parliament is instituting reforms, this must be one of the relics of the past that ought to be discarded. Abdikadir told The Standard on Saturday there was need to abandon the procedure because it encourages opaqueness.

He said the Bill contains proposed amendments to various Acts cutting across more than 100 subject areas. This makes it difficult for the Legal Affairs Committee to conduct thorough scrutiny.

The rationale of a Bill being published, he added, is to make it public for interested parties to make submissions but few people are aware of contents of the complicated omnibus.

The upshot is that the era of tucking away controversial provisions in a labyrinth that is the omnibus legislation must come to an end.

—Ndegwa is a writer with The Standard — [email protected]