Shenanigans, dictionaries and getting perfect byte

Parliament in a past session. [File]

How do you keep your fellow Mheshimiwa quiet in bunge? Well, Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa showed his colleagues just how to play god, deciding when the voice of a fellow legislator could and could not be heard.

It all happened during the appearance of Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani before a joint Public Investments and Public Accounts committees on Thursday. Yattani had been summoned to shed light on an extension he had sought from the House to have the deadline for submission of financial statements by state entities extended.

The questioning from the legislators was taking time and at some point the issues raised became repetitive and joint chair of the session, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir, called an end to the questioning.

But one honourable member still had burning queries. Rashid Amin (Wajir East) repeatedly tried to catch the attention of the chair. There was one problem though. His voice kept disappearing mid-sentence courtesy of his desk mate Wamalwa.

Whenever Amin opened his mouth, Wamalwa would clandestinely switch off his microphone. Amin would turn the mic on again, but as soon as he started speaking, Wamalwa would turn it off again in what quickly became a game of cat and mouse.

Eventually, the two legislators settled the matter with a chuckle and a handshake.

Sammy Onyango, chair of the selection panel that conducted the search for a new Auditor General was next before the legislators to explain his panel’s failure to find a suitable replacement for the former office holder, Edward Ouko.

“Are you, in your words, telling us that of the 70 people who applied, not even a single person, had extensive knowledge of public finance or at least 10 years’ experience in auditing of public finance management? Are those your submissions?” Nassir asked.

“That’s my submission,” was Onyango firm response, earning calls by members to have him placed under oath.

“You’ve wasted Kenyans’ money,” said Kiminini MP, Wamalwa.

Failed Kenyans

Although Onyango’s responses failed to strike the right chord the House, he didn’t back off insisting that it was Parliament that failed Kenyans by not enacting laws that allowed for seamless transition.

The heated debate resolved to have Onyango, and his panel, submit a report detailing the criteria used in the selection exercise.

Some MPs had their questions to Onyango planned out well in advance. One mheshimiwa was overheard saying, “I wanted that byte to come out,” alluding to a remark he had made during the proceedings.

Sometimes, as it happened on Wednesday, the MPs too are taken to school. While appearing before the Health committees of both houses, Cabinet Secretary James Macharia had MPs searching in the dictionary the meaning of the word ‘whistle-blower’.

“First of all, he is not a whistle-blower… you don’t whistle-blow on a 787… that flight was not arriving at night, in secret… So what was he whistle-blowing?” Macharia had said, regarding Gire Ali, a Kenya Airways employee who had filmed the landing of a China Southern Airlines flight in Nairobi from Guangzhou, the second worst-hit Chinese city by the outbreak, with 239 passengers on board.

His comments, branding Ali a criminal, did not sit well with the MPs, who defended Ali’s actions as heroic. 

More interesting were claims of double-standards, with the CS branding Ali a criminal, while Chinese nationals seen in his video were equally filming the landing plane, with no consequence preferred on them.