Members of the National Assembly during a past sitting.
Chairpersons of parliamentary committees accused of failing to push Cabinet secretaries to respond to pressing issues raised by lawmakers on behalf of citizens have rejected the claims, arguing that the blame lies with the Executive.
Deputy Majority Leader Owen Baya had tabled a tracker report showing that 132 requests for statements remained pending across 19 parliamentary committees.
MPs argued that the chairpersons of the Departmental Committees on Transport and Infrastructure, Administration and National Security, and Finance and National Planning said their committees, could not be blamed for delays when Cabinet secretaries had failed to submit the information required to prepare responses to the House.
National Assembly Deputy Majority Leader and Kilifi North MP Owen Baya.
They said they had repeatedly pushed ministries to provide responses at times attracting accusations of harassing government officials.
Ndia MP George Kariuki, who chairs the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, also disputed claims that his committee had 21 pending responses, saying the records showed 13.
The Statements Tracker showed that the Administration and National Security Committee, chaired by Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo, had the highest number of pending requests at 26, followed by Transport and Infrastructure with 21 and Education with 18.
Mr Baya singled out Mr Kariuki's committee suggesting that its chairman could be preoccupied with political ambitions.
“I think he is busy running for governor or something,” Mr Baya said.
Reacting to the report, Mr Kariuki accused Mr Baya of political mischief describing him as “a conveyor belt to a political mischief”.
“There is an invisible hand. Somebody is trying to destroy my reputation or otherwise why give exaggerated figures on the number of statements that are outstanding yet the correct number is 13 and not 21?”
“Somebody wants to portray me and my committee as incompetent. I read total politics in that report. We are in a political season and I don’t know why a colleague is delivering statements that are clearly meant to tarnish others,” Mr Kariuki posed.
Mr Kariuki said that as chairperson of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, he had never failed to deliver a statement scheduled on the Order Paper.
Ndia MP George Kariuki.
He said that whenever he was absent he nominated his vice-chairperson or another committee member to deliver the statement on his behalf.
“I have always made the Speaker aware of my absence and nominated my vice-chairperson or a member to stand in and respond to the statements. That is what a responsible chairperson does. Sometimes when a member who sought the statement is not in, we simply table it. I am always in the House save for a few days here and there,” he said.
Mr Kariuki dismissed Mr Baya’s assertions arguing that committees do not decide which statements are read, how many are taken up or when they are delivered.
He said that when an MP raises a request for a statement on the floor of the House, the Speaker usually asks the relevant committee chairperson to indicate when the statement will be delivered, with 14 days being the standard period.
The Ndia MP said the Clerk of the National Assembly would then write to the relevant ministry seeking a response. The ministry, through the Principal Secretary, submits the response directly to the Clerk.
The Clerk then forwards the responses to the House Business Committee which schedules them on the Order Paper. Committee chairpersons subsequently read the responses to the requests for statements on the floor of the House.
“Committee chairpersons don’t write to Cabinet Secretaries or Principal Secretaries for answers. It is the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly.”
“When we push ministries for answers, they say we are harassing them. We can’t respond to statements when ministries have not forwarded answers to Parliament through the Clerk and if they are not scheduled in the Order Paper.”
Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo. He chairs National Assembly Administration and Internal Security Committee.
Mr Tongoyo, whose Administration and National Security Committee had the largest number of pending statements at 26, acknowledged the backlog and pledged to expedite the outstanding matters.
“I appeal to the Members to be patient and assure them that we will address the majority of the 26 listed Statements. It is our duty and it is in our interest to expedite all Statements that have not been responded to,” Mr Tongoyo said.
Molo MP Kuria Kimani who chairs the Finance and National Planning Committee said his team had produced the largest number of reports on financial Bills and Sessional Papers.
Mr Kimani, whose committee was listed as having eight pending requests for statements said it was one of the busiest in the House.
“Looking at the Bills and Reports tracker of the House, my committee is the busiest and sometimes we have a lot of business, but we are committed to delivering requests for statements without delay,” Mr Kimani said.
“Most of the time the committee is very busy with the Treasury Bills that are tied to the budget. But we have a great number of reports that we have tabled. The number of workloads has sometimes led to the backlog on the delivery of statements sought by MPs.”
Affected departments
Mr Baya’s report showed that other committees with significant backlogs included Health, chaired by Seme MP James Nyikal, with eight pending statements; Lands, chaired by North Mugirango MP Joash Nyamoko, with seven; and Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations, chaired by Belgut MP Nelson Koech, with six.
Agriculture and Livestock had five pending statements, while Energy and Labour had five each.
Environment, Forestry and Mining had four, Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works three while Tourism and Wildlife had three.
The Communication, Information and Innovation two while Blue Economy and Irrigation, Justice and Legal Affairs, Social Protection, Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, and Budget and Appropriations each had one.
Education chairperson Julius Melly, Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations chairperson Mr Koech, and Energy chairperson Mr Gikaria did not respond to requests for comment.
The report was tabled in the National Assembly on the instructions of Speaker Moses Wetang’ula.
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Committee chairpersons and members earn sitting allowances, with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) setting the allowance for committee chairpersons at Sh15,000 per sitting, capped at Sh240,000 a month.
Vice-chairpersons receive Sh12,000 per sitting, with a monthly ceiling of Sh192,000, while committee members receive Sh7,500 per sitting, up to a maximum of Sh120,000 a month.
MPs and senators earn a gross monthly salary of Sh739,600, comprising a basic salary of Sh443,760, house allowance of Sh150,000, commuter allowance and a salary market adjustment of Sh145,840.
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