Newly elected Members of Parliament will today savour their working place for the next five years as the two-day pre-swearing-in ceremony begins at the main Parliament building.
Acting Clerk of the National Assembly Serah Kioko, however, said the new lawmakers will still not be allocated offices as they have not officially assumed office.
Ms Kioko told the Nation yesterday that today’s event will mostly be about receiving the details of the MPs-elect.
“From Tomorrow (today), we shall receive their details and show them around. Later, there will be a full induction where they will be taken through the Standing Orders, among other things,” she said.
Standing Order 259F provides that at the commencement of every parliament, a member submits to the Clerk biodata in the form prescribed for purposes of facilitating them in the affairs of the National Assembly and for public information.
In the induction to be conducted later, and which mostly targets MPs who have made it to Parliament for the first time, the lawmakers are taken through the legislative process such as how to sponsor Bills, bring petitions, and issue personal statements.
The induction is normally conducted by senior parliamentary officers handling different matters in the House.
For instance, there will be an officer from the pension department, house rules and procedure department, legal department, the Clerk's office, and services and facilities department, among other critical areas that facilitate the well-being of members while conducting their legislative roles.
The MPs-elect are supposed to present the original national identity card or passport, Kenya Revenue Authority personal identification number, the original certificate issued by the IEBC returning officer, a duly signed biodata form and curriculum vitae.
Upon swearing in, the new MPs will walk into new rules governing their legislative work following the review of the Standing Orders by their colleagues who served in the 12th parliament.
Among the changes include the introduction of 10 new committees a move that will see the number of committees move from the current 33 to 43.
Among the new committees introduced in the review of the Standing Orders undertaken by the House procedure and rules committee include the diaspora committee, public debt and privatisation committee, decentralized funds committee, public petitions committee, Housing, urban and planning committee, regional and development committee, and the social welfare committee.
The Public Investments Committee (PIC) has also been divided into three in order to enable it to cover more audit reports on the effective discharge of public funds of various parastatals under their mandate.
The 12 Independent MPs who have made it to the 13th Parliament will also have to be guided on how they will form their caucus and elect their leader who will champion their agenda on the floor of the House.
In the review of the Standing Orders, the House had already approved an Independent members’ caucus that will be only composed of those elected on independent tickets.
An independent MP is one who is elected free of any political party backing and is in fact required to have resigned from any party at least three months to the polls to be eligible to vie.
The single-member constituency MPs elected as independents are Rahim Dawood (Imenti North), Ronald Karauri (Kasarani), Elijah Njoroge (Gatundu North), Shakeel Shabbir (Kisumu East), Timothy Toroitich (Marakwet West), Joshua Mwalyo (Masinga), Nebert Muriuki (Mbeere South), Geoffrey Mulanya (Nambale) and Kitilai Ntutu (Narok South).
On the Woman Rep front, those elected as independents are Migori’s Fatuma Mohamed, Caroline Ngelechei (Elgeyo-Marakwet), and Monica Muthoni (Lamu).
