National Assembly top leadership calls out Parliamentarians for frequent absenteeism from the House
The National Assembly` s top leadership have called out Parliamentarians over what they termed as frequent lack of quorum in the House due to frequent absconding of House sessions by members.
Speaker Moses Masika Wetangula lamented that the highest number of absentees, unfortunately are committee chairpersons who play a very critical role in the House plenaries.
“Members of Parliament ask questions which should be answered by the committee chairs but you find them missing in the House at the time the questions need to be answered, or you find the member who asked the question is not available when the answer is tabled on the floor of the House,” Wetangula remarked.
He also raised the issue of the of the quality and quantity of the bills and motions and other legislations coming to the floor of the House and advised the members and especially committee chairs to invest in research and consult experts on various issues before bringing it to the floor of the House.
“The legislations made by House have sometimes been challenged in our courts which does not augur well with the House and the sponsors of the said legislations’ The issue is; conduct research through your teams and consult widely,” the Speaker advised.
Wetangula was speaking in Naivasha during a retreat for Parliamentary leadership including the committee chairs, office of the Clerk of the National Assembly, Majority and Minority leaders, Majority and minority whips among other leaders.
The three- day retreat is meant to help the leadership to reflect on the performance of the past and ongoing session of the House; achievements and the misses and create synergy to foster better performance in future.
The Speaker said Parliament is the nerve-centre of Kenyan leadership and Kenyans have delegated their authority to it, hence the need for the members to lead by example and put the interest they represent ahead of their own interests, adding that in this regard the House should never lack quorum.
The Leader of the Majority; Anthony Kimani Ichung`wa on his part urged the committee chairpersons to endeavour to be in the House most of the time because of their crucial role in Parliamentary business, noting that the House is most times lacking quorum especially in the afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“Let’s focus on committee work because that is where the issues in the bills can be ironed out. We have many committees that should engineer and veto legislations many of which come when they are below legal threshold,”said Ichung’wa.
Ichung’wa said as members of the August House, they represent the interests of not only their constituencies but also those of the country and all other emerging and pressing issues.
“I know we all have very busy schedules but let’s create time for the House business because committee reports are normally tabled in the afternoon and sometimes you find that members or chairpersons are not there to call their reports,” Ichung`wa said.
Ichung`wa added the house is working on a bill that seeks to address the rising number of court rulings stopping bills or motions in parliament due to lack of substantive law on public participation.
“We will also improve the House communication to the public which has been wanting and marred with negative publicity which has seen the House being challenged in court on key bills such as the Finance Bill 2024/ 2025,” he stated.
The Parliamentary leaders also raised concern over the increased incidences of power outages in the country coupled with high cost of electricity.
Wetangula called on the Ministry of Energy to look into ways of addressing the crisis noting that the western part of the country has been the most affected by the blackouts.
“We have summoned Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary (CS) James Opiyo Wandayi in this retreat to shed some light on what the Ministry intends to do to stem these incessant blackouts. We are losing investors due to high cost of power,” he said adding that for Kenya to become a middle income country, we need stable power supply which will in turn create a positive environment for the growth of the economy.
Earlier this month, the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) signed a Private/ Public Partnership (PPP) contract with Adani Energy Solutions Limited.
The deal which is estimated to cost Sh.95.68 billion (USD 736 million), will see the Indian company develop, finance, construct, and operate critical and state of the art transmission lines and substations across the country, which will go a long way in helping Kenya to tackle the chronic power outages and ensure more reliable electricity access to support the country’s growing economy and industrial ambitions.
The ambitious project will include the construction of several high-voltage transmission lines and substations. The contract involves the construction of three high-voltage power transmission lines and two substations in a bid to enhance connectivity and stability in the national grid.
The lines that are set to be financed through this agreement include 400kV (Double-Circuit) Gilgil-Thika-Malaa-Konza Line: Spanning 208.73 kilometer (km), 220kV Rongai-Keringet-Chemosit Line: Covering 99.98 km, 132 KiloVolts (KV), Menengai-Ol Kalou-Rumuru, which will be an 89.88 km line, a 400/220kV substation at Lessos, and a 132/33kV substation at Thurdibuoro.
For 30 years, Adani Energy Solutions will then manage the infrastructure under the agreement, ensuring its long-term sustainability before transferring it to KETRACO. The project will enhance the national electricity infrastructure (transmission lines and substations) and in effect ensure reliable and widespread access to power that will support Kenya’s growing economy and development goals.
By Mabel Keya – Shikuku
