Kenya: Big parties lose out on House teams

The two main coalition partners suffered the huge blow when House Speaker Kenneth Marende ruled that he would stick to the Standing Orders.

It is understood that the Speaker termed ODM and PNU as the mainstream political parties, and therefore, it will be useless to have them investigate themselves.

House rules provide that the committees should be dominated by the opposition and in fact all the chairmen to these watchdog teams should be from parties not in government.
The Public Accounts Committee, Public Investment Committee and the newly formed Local Authorities and Funds Accounts Committee and the Budget Committee are crucial in checking the excesses of the Executive.
The ruling was made at a meeting between 23 MPs and the Speaker, at a Nairobi hotel.
Parliament lacks an official opposition whose members are supposed to take charge of the watchdog teams.
Addressing the media at the venue, Government Chief Whip George Thuo alluded to serious challenges in constituting the committees owing to the lack of an opposition in the House.
We want to respect our Standing Orders while understanding that the current situation (with a coalition government) is unique, Mr Thuo said.
Sources at the meeting said some ODM backbenchers queried why they were not allowed to be in the opposition yet they were not in government.
The committees were supposed to have been in place by April 21 when the Third Session of Parliament began.
Mr Thuo and ODM whip Jakoyo Midiwo are expected to table the list in the House by Thursday.
There is an urgency to have the committees in place before the 2009/2010 Budget is presented before the House next month, since they are expected to scrutinise the Budget.
Two MPs have written to the Speaker seeking to form an Official Opposition Caucus in an effort to lead the committees, but the matter is yet to reach the floor of the House.
As ODM and PNU were locked out, ODM-K and Kanu could have a field day in the watchdog roles, but then again, some of their members are in government, and so it is upon the Speaker to rule on how this will be handled.

Select committees
Smaller parties also pose a challenge since they are not in government but are not considered parliamentary political parties. According to House rules a party is one that has more than 11 members.
In effect only, ODM, PNU, Kanu and ODM-K qualify, out of the 23 parties with MPs in the 10th Parliament.
Mr Thuo also cited the many House teams prescribed in the Standing Orders versus the number of MPs as another challenge. He said MPs will have to be members in up to three or four other committees.
There are 28 select committees recognised under the new Standing Orders, although there are three other ad hoc committees whose mandate is yet to expire.

Daily Nation