How Parliament invasion changed public participation

When Parliament resumes sittings on February 11, 2025, Kenyans will be allowed to send in their questions during committee sittings in which a public servant is appearing to answer questions regarding their ministry.

The announcement was made by Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula on the last day of the sittings of the House, noting that during the vetting of the nominees of the second Cabinet of President William Ruto, the questions that were sent in by the public enriched the exercise.

“It was a new innovation by the House that has been received well by the public and going into the future, some of the proceedings, even committee chairpersons should allow members of the public to send one or two questions and put them to the Cabinet secretaries or any other public servant appearing before you so that you can enrich what you are doing,” Mr Wetang’ula said.

He was referring to WhatsApp and Facebook messages that were sent to Parliament during the vetting exercise.
Previously, such information would be discarded as it was deemed not to have been shared through official channels, but this time round the messages were collated and put to the nominees.

The National Assembly also did not throw out memoranda sent by the public because they were not accompanied by an affidavit as required by law. The House turned such memoranda that raised valid issues into questions that were put to the nominees.

The events of June 25, 2024 in Parliament will forever remain etched in the minds of the lawmakers, staff and security agencies manning the buildings. Protesters overpowered the police and gained access to Parliament to take the battle against the Finance Bill, 2024 to the doorstep of their representatives.

To the protesters, despite key organisations, stakeholders and Kenyans on various social media spaces and public participation forums expressing their rejection of the Finance Bill, their representatives, whom they elected to speak on their behalf, were approving the proposed legislation. 

Following this invasion, Parliament improved on its ways of engaging the public, especially on matters touching on finances.

Gatanga MP Wakili Muriu said lessons have been learnt and MPs nowadays take their parliamentary work very seriously and shoot down any laws which might put them at loggerheads with the people.

He pointed out that the Tax Law Amendment Bill, 2024, Public Procurement and Disposal Amendment Bill, 2024, and Business Law Amendment Bill, 2024 were overhauled after the Finance committee received various views during public participation.

“I had a number of amendments which I wanted to introduce but they were taken off at the committee stage, which is very impressive,” he said.

Molo MP Kimani Kuria said: “We need to read the mood of the people earlier and make decisions promptly.” 
He pointed out that public participation has since changed and now Kenyans can express themselves through more informal channels.

“We are used to formal public participation where we invite people to send letters or emails but now it is evident that Kenyans express themselves more on X and Facebook and the government actually reads them,” Mr Kuria said.

Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge said they now intend to engage the public more through forums organised at the constituency level as opposed to only in hotels in Nairobi.

“Going forward, we will use the constituency offices and staff to engage the public on Bills that we consider controversial, popular and those that have direct effect on the people. We will go to the people and engage them and respect their views,” Mr Njoroge said.

He added that among the Bills that the House intends to fully engage the public on include Finance Bills, constitutional amendment Bills and any Bill related to taxation. He explained that the move is to ensure that Parliament is as inclusive as possible since it exists to serve the people.

In conducting their activities, parliamentary committees have embraced social media, with real time messages from constituents being read to those appearing before them.

The Education committee chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly is among those whose members read real time social media messages to those appearing before them.

Public participation is a crucial stage of any passage of a legislation and it’s a constitutional requirement. Article 118 (2) of the constitution requires Parliament to facilitate public participation and involvement in its legislative and other functions.

Courts have also stated that public participation must be meaningful both in qualitative and quantitative aspects and the views of the people should be considered