SAM’S SENSE: Hello Parliamentarians

Earlier in the week, MPs allied to the Kenya Kwanza alliance converged in Naivasha for, “consultations with the national executive”.

And at that event, they were challenged for being clueless; they were asked if they knew where the National Employment authority is, they were asked if they knew of the government programme to export nursing labour…Many were quiet, embarrassed that there is so much they do not know.

In a single session, the UDA party leader and President managed to capture the imagination of the legislators; warning them, that they sold the Kenya Kwanza manifesto together and that the time of reckoning is coming in 2027.

Yet the president is a politician, the legislators are politicians and many of them may seek to keep their seats. But they have an obligation, a constitutional duty.

Article 94 of the constitution defines the role of parliament in Kenya. No person or body, other than Parliament, has the power to make provision having the force of law in Kenya except under authority conferred by the Constitution or by legislation, passed by parliament.

You see, parliament has three key mandates: to oversight state organs, to represent the people of Kenya, and to legislate, or, in simple terms, make laws.

This constitutional role is distinct from that of the president and the executive arm of government.

Members of the National Assembly deliberate and resolve issues of concern to the people, not the party leader of the governing party, not the president. The Senate represents the counties, serves to protect the interests of the counties and their governments, not the national government. That is the constitution.

What we are seeing is the betrayal of the spirit of the 2010 Constitution, which sought to distribute the powers and responsibilities of the three arms of government, all for good governance. Parliament was accorded a whole chapter in the constitution, and the role was defined as that of oversight of government.

And so, even though it is important to expedite consideration of important pieces of legislation that seek to address certain concerns of the country and, as a matter of fact, to implement an administration’s manifesto, it is dereliction of duty, conscience, and the law to do so in total disregard of the people’s concerns.

We have heard many members of Parliament say that Parliament has been captured. The thirteenth parliament is the worst in the history of Kenya in execution of its mandate. Whether they are right or wrong is immaterial for now. What is critical is that any person privileged to be elected or nominated to Parliament must be worth the election.

To claim that parliament is captured and stage walkouts must not be entertained by any right-thinking Kenyan as a convincing action. To cite that the majority shall have their way and minority their say must not be used to explain away the absence of a voice of reason for the interest of the people. 

Parliament and parliamentarians must find their way to summon the national conscience, and simply do their job. Even though democracy counts on numbers, it cannot simply be about numbers; yet numbers are crucial at decision-making, to break a tie. Representing the interests of the people cannot be about numbers. Oversighting state organs cannot be about numbers. When members of parliament are considering budget estimates, it cannot be a question of, “how many are we?” No! You cannot govern a country by numbers. To do so is to rule rather than govern.

It is at parliament that all representatives of the people gather under one roof to decide the fate or destiny of the geographical entity called Kenya. In geographic terms, the institution of parliament and the institution of the presidency are equal, because both must gain the vote from across the country. What we are witnessing is parliament that is on its knees for much of their time, even crawling to other gates for guidance and direction…

If the framers of the constitution wanted parliament to serve the national government’s interests, they would have said so and placed them in the same chapter. There must be a reason that Parliament has its own physical address away from the State House or even the Judiciary. There must be a reason that Parliament has its own budget, separate from the control of the National Treasury.

Parliament and, in particular, the National Assembly cannot continue to pass budget estimates as presented by the national government and then approach the public to claim that the government is overbudgeting, that the government is wasteful, or that the government has an expenditure problem. They cannot continue to whine at public rallies as if ordinary. To do so is to continuously erode the sense of a constitutionally protected parliament. And that is my sense tonight