Law raised the bar for House, Members of Parliament falling short

By Ababu Namwamba

Kenya’s Parliament has had quite a chequered history,  one that bears hallmarks of a rather intriguing cycle

Edmund Burke, the celebrated 18th Century British Statesman, was setting very high standards indeed when he said: “Parliament is not a Congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests; which interests each must maintain, as an agent and advocate, against other agents and advocates; but parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation with one interest, that of the whole; where not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good, resulting from the general reason of the whole. You choose a member indeed; but when you have chosen him, he is not a Member of Bristol but a Member of Parliament”.

Kenya’s Parliament has had quite a chequered history, one that bears hallmarks of a rather intriguing cycle. From the heady post-independence decade when the likes of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Masinde Muliro, Argwings Kodhek, Martin Shikuku, Jean Marie Seroney, Tom Mboya and Josiah Mwangi (JM) Kariuki, et al, lit up the House with stirring nationalist displays that would ultimately land virtually all of them in the furnace of the Biblical Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego proportions, as the young nation dizzyingly veered off the democratic straight and narrow, landing violently into the ditch of autocracy.

To the shadowy days of sham democracy and hushed dissent, when a neutered legislature was largely reduced to a marionette strung and controlled from the mansion on the hill, when voting in the House became a mechanical exercise easily predictable long before Mr Speaker put the question, when even the most weighty constitutional amendments would be nonchalantly swept through in the twinkling of an eye.

And Back again to the fiery multi-party House that followed the repeal of that ignominious section 2A of the Constitution in 1991. That class of ’92 saw the return of battle-hardened libertarian warriors like Jaramogi, Shikuku, Muliro, James Orengo, Koigi Wamwere and Raila Amollo Odinga as well as the arrival of a new generation of soldiers of democracy that included Gitobu Imanyara, Anyang Nyong’o, Paul Muite, Michael Kijana Wamalwa and Martha Karua.

That illustrious cast, a very rare blend of wisdom of age and exuberance of youth, gave this country the template for democratic constitutionalism that has defined and now anchors the very character of our Second Republic.

This full cycle closes, quite appropriately, with the dawn of a new dispensation, in which Parliament has been handed the pride of place in the shaping of the renaissance of the Motherland. Article 94 of the Constitution is emphatic that the legislative authority of the Republic, derived from the people, is vested in and exercised by Parliament. These are weighty responsibilities and sky-high expectations indeed, which pose a gargantuan challenge to the institution of Parliament.

The bar has raised to heights that would certainly have Burke nodding in approval. The people of Kenya and the Constitution have, as medievals would say, thrown the gauntlet at the feet of Parliament, which has no choice but to stand up to be counted. But if recent events are any yardstick at all, this is going to be no mean task.

First, Parliament must rise to the challenge of cementing internal reforms and crystalising the image of democratic maturity. The supremacy squabbles between the Senate and the National Assembly, vetting exercises that have been rated as largely unsatisfactory, the furore over salaries and past alleged indiscretions in the Parliamentary Service Commission are all issues that have certainly not done the image of Parliament any good.

But these challenges also present a good opportunity for a critical appraisal of this key institution.

Rather than viewing public criticism as some kind of witch-hunt or inconvenient irritation, Parliament should instead grab the initiative and swiftly but effectively respond to the issues of concern by radically transforming Parliament into the best managed institution in the Republic, with a reputation beyond reproach, as Caesar’s wife.

Second, Parliament must jealously guard tenets of integrity and decorum in the conduct of its business.

There have been some really unfortunate incidents in recent times that have not only besmirched the character of the House, but indeed demeaned its very authority.

Blind partisanship and jingoist politicking on the floor of the House masquerading as debate are among incidents that are absolutely OUT OF ORDER!