NAIROBI: In the aftermath of the infamous raid on the Standard Group, former Internal Security Minister John Michuki when put to task he warned: "If you rattle a snake, you must be prepared to be bitten."
The National Assembly has been acting in a manner that has sparked nationwide outrage and debate on the role of Parliament is hot. And every institution has bore the brunt of the bite from a rattled Parliament; from the Senate, the Judiciary, the Executive, the civil society and the tax-payers.
Parliamentarians have chosen to go hammer and tongs for those standing in their way. It excited civil society groups to lampoon the MPs as Mpigs, but it is no longer a laughing matter.
The belligerent MPs are so emboldened to give ultimatums to everybody, including the Head of State. They have realised that there is a separation of powers between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, and have decided to exercise their portion of powers to the maximum, seemingly with disregard of everyone. The tragedy is that this has led to a comedy of errors bordering on the absurd.
Trouble began when Parliament blocked the Senate's quest for a Sh1 billion kitty to fund their county activities. The haughty manner in which the Leader of Majority Aden Duale reacted to a special sitting of the Senate on Monday this week is ample proof of how low our legislative houses have sunk.
Mr Duale spent the better part of last year haranguing governors who had resisted supervision by senators. He went round calling on the governors to submit to the Senate or face the consequences.
At a public meeting in Narok, he even came close to exchanging blows with Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto.
Today, Mr Duale is leading the chorus that the Senate is not only superfluous; it does not need money for oversight roles, at best, it should be disbanded.
These double-speak antics are eroding the standing of our legislators in the eyes of the public, their employer. No doubt, the National Assembly enjoys powers bestowed upon it by the Constitution, but what we witness every now and then is those powers being abused to serve personal and sectarian interests.
The most glaring is the manner Parliament has been vetting nominees to public office. They have turned it into an appraisal session often asking mundane and irrelevant questions and making a mockery of a critical process in looking out for the best to serve in the public service.
On the other hand, while MPs now want the Senate scrapped, the senators want the National Assembly's powers clipped. And this, they admit, can only be possible through a referendum.
With all these shenanigans, Kenya is like a ship on the high seas without steerage because the captain, the coxswain and the deckhands are involved in a free-for-all fight. This is not good for democracy.
It is not lost on many that the turf wars are induced by the desire by both houses to control public money. Money and power are good bedfellows. Each would rather it were them and not the other at the till dishing out the money and the favours that come with it.
What is more, most of the time, this money is not accounted for. And that could explain why the quarrelsome coalitions of Jubilee and CORD have found a common ground.
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