Lawmakers approve Bill on total immunity for MPs, MCAs

NAIROBI, KENYA: MPs in the National Assembly on Thursday concluded debate on the Bill that seeks to give them total immunity from prosecution, in effect guaranteeing that they will not be sued in their lifetime for "anything done...in good faith" during their tenure.
A day after he got massive support for the move, Mr Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town), the sponsor of the Bill, defended the decision to shield lawmakers from legal suits, and said they were simply entrenching in the Constitution a provision that protects other public officers.
"Even judges are not liable either criminally or in civil cases for omissions or commissions done during the discharge of their functions. It is not something we have picked from nowhere!" said Kaluma on Thursday.
Article 160 (5) of the Constitution has such provisions for the judicial officers. It reads: "A member of the Judiciary is not liable in an action or suit in respect of anything done or omitted to be done in good faith in the lawful performance of a judicial function."
Kaluma said the public, ever suspicious of the impunity of politicians, should not worry that MPs were on a hunt to emasculate the Judiciary.
"All we seek to do is to give this House immunity in the discharge of its functions, to make sure that the people in this House can go about their business without fear of criminal or civil consequence. It is not a bad thing!" Kaluma said.
The chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Samwel Chepkonga (Ainabkoi), the chairman of the Committee on Implementation of House resolutions Soipan Tuya (Narok), Makali Mulu (Kitui Central) and Christopher Nakuleu (Turkana North) said the Bill was a welcome addition to the legal ammunition that MPs require to do their work freely.
"MPs are representatives of the people, most of the things we say are not our own issues, they are things that the people we represent want said. I don't want to be scared, so that I have to look behind my back before I speak. I want to speak my mind. The courts should not think that we are interfering with their independence," said Makali Mulu.
Chepkonga said the Bill was a panacea for the avalanche of court injunctions that have hit the Senate and its committees, and even the National Assembly.