Intrigue as Speaker postpones hot debate on coalition Bill to next year

Deputy Speaker Moses Cheboi. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The much-anticipated debate on the Political Parties Amendment Bill failed to take off yesterday after National Assembly Deputy Speaker Moses Cheboi pulled the plug on it in a controversial decision that left all sides guessing as to what was the end game of the ruling.

MPs appeared set to proceed with the movers already walloping the opposing side 113 to 68 in a vote earlier on the second day of the special sitting of the National Assembly. That was until Cheboi called off the afternoon sitting that could have seen the MPs vote on the Bill to allow inclusion of new amendments for debate.

He told members that there were way too many amendments that required harmonisation before a vote could be taken. He also claimed to have consulted widely before making the decision, which attracted protests from minority leader John Mbadi.

The new amendments were proposed by MPs Otiende Amollo (Rarieda), Ayub Savula (Lugari), Kimani Ichungwa (Kikuyu), Caleb Kositany (Soy), John Kiarie (Dagoretti South), Alice Wahome (Kandara), Aden Duale (Garissa), Geoffrey Osotsi (Nominated), Owen Baya (Kilifi North) and Didmus Barasa (Kimilili).

Barasa had proposed to reduce the period to form a coalition from six months to at least two months before a general election while Duale sought 90 days.

The Bill sponsored by Majority Leader Amos Kimunya provides for a deadline of six months to form a coalition before an election. The postponement of the debate will further narrow the window for coalition formation if this particular clause is not amended.

Nominated MP Osotsi also sought to delete the clause providing that parties’ books of account are not subject to review by the Auditor-General.

The Raila Odinga-led Azimio La Umoja movement is set to form a coalition whereas Deputy President William Ruto is yet to announce whether he will form one for his 2022 presidential bid. He has been championing for one strong national party.

In his ruling, the Speaker noted that all amendments must be included in a Bill so as to ensure there is harmonisation since, “the process is very crucial in ensuring that all the proposed amendments are in order as contemplated by the 2010 Constitution.”

He noted that due to the nature of the amendments that sought to change almost all clauses of the Bill, he had to invoke Standing Order 131.

The order states: “Where after a Bill has been read a second time and before commence of committee of the whole House amendments have been proposed to it which in the opinion of the Speaker require harmonisation, the Speaker may direct that any member proposing an amendment to the Bill to appear before the relevant departmental committee dealing with the subject matter of the Bill to present his or her proposals.”

Cheboi said for harmonisation to be achieved, the House opted to give a chance to all members with amendments to the Bill to appear before the departmental committee of Justice and Legal Affairs (JLAC) for harmonisation following which the committee of the whole House will be recalled.

ODM Party Chairman John Mbadi [Samson Wire, Standard].

“The committee of the whole House stage of the Bill is automatically deferred to allow harmonisation of the amendments proposed to the Bill…….. The House is duly guided,” he ruled.

The ruling caught the attention of Mbadi, who wanted it reversed to allow MPs to go on as planned as they had already won the vote of calling the mover reply. This is the vote that returned the 113 yes and 68 nays.

Mr Mbadi argued that the Speaker had no power to postpone the afternoon sitting as it had already been gazetted.

“Mr Speaker, a sitting of the House once gazetted cannot be called off. We have a properly constituted special sitting and it’s only by leave of this House that this meeting can be called off,” he said.

However, Cheboi said he could not reconsider his ruling

“Nothing is lost, just that it has been pushed to another day, remember where you have numbers you will always have your way if I made this decision alone, it would be different but this is something that we consulted at all levels,” he said.

“If you want to come in the afternoon as a cosmetic exercise you are welcome but I can assure you that there is nothing that we will achieve out of coming in the afternoon.”

The Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, 2021, provides that parties that are members of a coalition will be entitled to a share of the parties’ cash.

The government payouts are shared depending on the number of presidential votes that a party or coalition receives in a general election.

The rivalry between MPs allied the Handshake camp of President Kenyatta and the ODM leader and those allied to the DP played out during the debate, forcing the Speaker to step in more than once, even threatening to kick out some members.

Shouting matches characterised the debate with the question of numbers and urgency of the matter being raised.

At one point, Tharaka MP George Murugara rose on a point of order demanding that the Speaker halt the debate as he questioned its constitutionality. He argued that the Bill was not subjected to public participation as required by law. However, Cheboi ruled that it had gone through the due process.

“The advertisements were duly run by the clerk of the National Assembly to notify the public of hearings of the Bill seeking to views of the public of the same.

“I am aware that several groups appeared before the committee and that matter is therefore settled,” the Speaker ruled.

Kimunya said the House had been mandated by the courts to define political parties and they were just doing their duty as per the law.

He said for the longest time there had been no definition of the same and it was time to rectify that as a house.

“The best thing that we can do in this country is to have legal framework that will allow three or four political parties to come together so that they can share everything together and do not have to rely on big brother, small brother to call the shots,” said the Majority Leader.

The Tangatanga faction could however not go down without a fight in the attempt to block the Bill from seeing light of day.

Led by Kandara MP Alice Wahome they expressed reservations with the move to recall Parliament terming it fishy and aimed at ensuring the controversial Bill sails through.

“Even this special sitting is a sign that there are people intent on controlling the General Election through this Bill. Even from the Speaker’s speech on how this Bill is being processed ignoring procedural issues directly points to a situation where the country is being asked to run quickly,” she said.

“We can see through this provisions the hand of the handshake partners who are now desperate and think that they can use the House to bring up provisions that will facilitate an amorphous coalition of parties,” she said.

Kimunya said the Bill would address the thorny issue of political parties funding as it seeks to give 70 per cent of the fund based on the number of votes secured by each political party and 15 per cent based on the number of candidates of the political party from special interest groups elected among other considerations.

“If a small party like the PDR was not given a coalition housing by Jubilee Party there would be no UDA today,” he said.

Mbadi told Ruto-allied members yesterday was the day for them to prove they had the numbers they always bragged about.

“Where are your 150 members you always talk about? You only have 20 to 25 members. If you do not have numbers stop wasting our time,” he said.

Endebess MP Robert Pukose said: “This Bill has been hurriedly brought. The issue of having free and fair election will be nothing but a mirage if the House is not careful.” 

The MPs will be back from long recess on January 25, 2022, meaning that parties will have a small window in which to form a Coalition Political Party (CPP).