It's a race against time to meet Nadco's tight deadlines
From left: Deputy Chairperson of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Mwengi Mutuse, Chairperson of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly George Murugara and Chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Senator Hillary Sigei addressing the media at KICC Nairobi on Thursday March 7, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Two planned sessions by the team have aborted despite President William Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga committing to the success of the process.
- The joint committee has just a month to consider nine Bills that emanated from the report and table its findings for consideration by the two houses
It's a race against time as the 45-day deadline to complete consideration of the nine Bills on recommendations of the National Dialogue Committee (Nadco) report fast approaches.
Joint Parliamentary Committe
Surprisingly, a fortnight after the Joint Parliamentary Committees on Justice and Legal Affairs of the bicameral Parliament held their first meeting to consider the framework Bills, nothing seems to be happening.
Two planned sessions by the team have aborted with the latter being yesterday despite President William Ruto and Opposition leader Raila Odinga committing to the success of the process.
After failing to take off last week, yesterday was another setback as the meeting set for 10am was rescheduled indefinitely.
By 10:30 am only National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) chairman and Tharaka MP George Murugara, TJ Kajwang’ (Ruaraka), Otiende Amollo (Rarieda) and senators Fatuma Dullo (Isiolo) and Veronica Maina were present.
Business on the floor of the house
However, Mr Kajwang’ excused himself, informing the chairman that he had some business on the floor of the House and had to leave.
Mr Murugara also left, only informing the secretariat that they will have to reschedule the meeting.
Yesterday’s turn of events now leaves consideration of the report in limbo.
Nine bills
The joint committee has just a month to consider nine Bills that emanated from the report and table its findings for consideration by the two houses.
While giving the 45 days’ timeline to the committee, Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula told the lawmakers to ensure strict adherence to the due process in considering the proposed amendments.
Strict adherence to the due process
“The two committees are therefore directed to ensure strict adherence to the due process in considering the proposed amendments during the joint sittings. Finally, this matter being one of immense importance and public interest, the committees are directed to undertake the assignment expeditiously and to submit a report within forty-five (45) days from today (Tuesday).”
With the National Assembly heading for its short recess from Friday to April 9, the committee co-chaired by Mr Murugara and his Senate counterpart Bomet Senator Hillary Sigei must race against time in order to meet its deadline.
Marathon meetings
While cancelling the meeting last week, Mr Murugara said they will have marathon meetings or will be forced to request for an additional time from the speaker in order to complete the task at hand.
The Nadco report, which was a product of bipartisan talks between President Ruto and Mr Odinga following sustained anti-government protests, made a myriad of proposals touching on legal and policy reforms, and issues of concern to Kenyans.
Among proposals, which came out of the report include the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2023, which if approved by Parliament, will change the structure of government by introducing the office of the leader of official opposition and anchor in law the office of the prime minister, the Senate Oversight Fund, the National Government Affirmative Action Fund and the National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF).
Extend Senate's term
It further seeks to extend the term of the Senate to seven years from the current five.
The other proposed law is the IEBC (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to amend the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act to increase the number of commissioners to nine from seven.
Yesterday’s meeting was to be the third for the joint committee to, among other things, make a decision on the contentious question of referendum and framework of conducting public participation on the Bills.
In its first meeting, the team said it was to give its position on whether the country would go for a referendum to implement some of the recommendations made in the report.
The committee was also set to divide the constitutional amendment Bills for ease of consideration.
It was also to determine the extent to which the committee should go on public participation while considering the nine Bills emanating from the Nadco report. The joint committee was to decide on whether the committee will take public views on the Bill across the country or through memorandums.
