Cord MPs walk out of House in Bills row

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PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE Parliament buildings, Nairobi.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By JOHN NGIRACHU jngirachu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Tuesday, July 23  2013 at  23:30

MPs from the Cord coalition last evening staged a walk-out from the National Assembly to protest what they termed a tendency by the Jubilee side to use their “tyranny of numbers” to push through whatever they want.

The MPs walked out en masse, frustrating a motion by the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) to extend the deadline to implement Bills on the freedom of the media. 
It requires two thirds of the House membership to pass the motion since it touches on the Constitution, which means the 216 Jubilee members alone cannot meet the constitutional threshold.

The walk-out marked the height of agitation in the House’s first session of the week sparked by Jubilee’s push to have the publication period on two Bills to do with the police service halved.

They were outnumbered 63-131 by Jubilee, which succeeded in having the publication period of the Bills amending the National Police Service Act and the National Police Service Commission Act from 14 to seven days.

Cord MPs signaled they would try to have them declared unconstitutional.

Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso said a ruling on the constitutionality of the two Bills would be given before they are returned to the National Assembly for the Second Reading, where debate starts.

It was after this that CIOC chairman Njoroge Baiya moved the extension motion amid protests by Cord MPs who insisted that it could not be done through a motion.

Mr Baiya said the proposed laws — Media Council and the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bills — were only forwarded to Parliament last week and sent for publication on Tuesday.

He said it would be impossible for the National Assembly to pass the Bills by August 26 if they had to go through the legislative process of first, second and third readings.

The Bills were forwarded to Commission for Implementation of the Constitution between June 21 and July 12 by the Attorney General and taken back on July 17.

Failure by Parliament to enact the Bills could create a constitutional crisis and anyone could move to court to dissolve Parliament as a result.

MPs are set to go on a one-month recess for the whole of August, but Cord MPs now say the House can forego the recess and enact the Bills by the deadline.

Progress was halted by the walk-out.

Before then, the Cord MPs put up a strong opposition to the two police Bills, whose net effect would be an increase in the powers of the Inspector-General.

They described the Bills as “an attempt to amend the Constitution through the back door.”

Heated debate began even before the two Bills were introduced, with Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi seeking to have them blocked from getting to the House.

Mr Wandayi raised his objections just before Majority Leader Aden Duale could ask the House to authorise the reduction of the Bills’ publication period from 14 to seven days.

He based his objections on a House rule that provides for an MP to raise the alarm whenever they feel the Constitution is going to be violated.