Legislators resume House sittings with long to-do list

Parliament during a past sitting. [File, Standard] The Senate and National Assembly are set to resume sittings on Tuesday, after a month-long recess, with a packed agenda. At the National Assembly, the Virtual Asset Service Providers (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.15 of 2025) sponsored by Molo MP Kuria Kimani will be among those given priority with an aim to regulate the booming digital sector. Kimani highlighted Kenya's impressive engagement with digital assets, ranking third in Africa on chain weighted transactions volume, adding that in the last one year Kenya has traded in at least Sh258 billion in decentralised protocols, liquidity aggression and synthetic platforms. "We have approximately 6.1 million Virtual Assets Services users with the country having the potential to generate at least Sh130 billion in terms of foreign direct investment and the potential to create at least 25,000 jobs in Kenya in the next one year if this bill is passed," said Kimani. According to the Bill, any individual or entity engaging in virtual asset services in Kenya will be required to obtain a licence from a designated regulatory authority, which could include Capital Markets Authority, Central Bank of Kenya or the proposed Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. The House will also be discussing the Kenya Roads (Amendment) (Number 3) Bill (National Assembly bill number 34 of 2025) sponsored by Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma on behalf of the House's General Legislative Caucus. Kaluma said the principal objective of the Bill is to amend the Kenya Roads Act, Cap. 408 to classify public roads into national trunk roads and county roads and to vest the management' of county roads in county governments. "This classification is intended to provide clarity in the maintenance, rehabilitation and development of the road network across the country. Further, the Bill seeks to give effect to paragraph 5(a) of Part 2 of the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution," said Kaluma. To achieve this objective, the Bill proposes consequential amendments to Kenya Roads Board Act, Cap. 408A to allocate funds from the proceeds of the Road Maintenance Levy Fund to county governments for the maintenance, rehabilitation and development of county roads within their respective jurisdiction. Privatisation The Homa Bay Town MP said this is aimed at ensuring that county governments have access to financial resources specifically earmarked for the maintenance, rehabilitation and development of county roads. The Privatisation Bill (National Assembly Bill Number 36 of 2025), which seeks to establish an Act of Parliament to provide a regulatory framework for the privatisation of public entities and to establish the Privatisation Authority, will be before the House. The principal objective of the Bill sponsored by the National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah is to repeal and re-enact the regulatory framework for the Privatization of public entities with a view to improving the efficiency of public entities. "The Bill provides for the coordination and oversight of Privatisation matters; provides for the establishment, functions and administration of the Privatization Authority and the appointment and functions of the Managing Director, the Corporation Secretary and staff of the Authority," said Ichung'wah. The House will also be considering the report on the examination of the financial statements for the water sector trust fund to be tabled by the Chairperson, Special Funds Accounts Committee Fatuma Mohammed (Migori Woman Rep). The Senate is set to receive the progress report from the National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration Committee chaired by Marsabit Senator Mohammed Chute on an inquiry into the diversity and inclusivity in the staff composition of State agencies. Miraa law The Senate is set to discuss the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Amendment Bill (National Assembly bill 2024) which will be tabled by the Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot. It seeks to ensure that accounting officers give priority to citizen contractors in sub-contracting of tenders. "Any procurement of up to one billion shillings shall be awarded to a local firm, a foreign firm shall be eligible for procurement of contracts of more than one billion shillings where the firm has entered into joint venture with a local firm for not less than thirty percent of the value of the procurement," said Cheruiyot. The House will be discussing the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control amendment bill (Senate Bill number 1 of 2024) sponsored by Senate Deputy Speaker Kathuri Murungi which seeks to exempt cathinone and cathine substances found in miraa from being classified as psychotropic substances. Murungi said that the Principal objective of the bill is to delete cathinone and cathine as being substances found in Miraa from the ambits of the Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances since Miraa is recognized in second schedule of the crops act 2013 and is a source of livelihood for many Kenyans. "I would like to urge all stakeholders to support this bill since Miraa is not a harmful drug since in my own example I have never made any irrational decision as a Deputy Speaker of the Senate or as a Member of Parliament for the last 11 years simply because I have chewed Miraa," said Murungi.

Legislators resume House sittings with long to-do list

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