Senate suspends all committee meetings in protest over budget slash
Senators during a past sitting in Nairobi.
A battle is looming between senators and the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) over Sh163 million budget slash to Senate committees for their operations.
The development comes after the Senate resolved to suspend all its committee meetings protesting the budget reduction by the parliamentary body.
In a move that is likely to pit the two Houses of Parliament against each other as the PSC is headed by National Assembly (NA) Speaker Moses Wetang’ula and draws majority of its membership from the NA, Senate Deputy Speaker Kathuri Murungi said no committee meeting will take place until the matter is resolved.
In the current financial year, Parliament – the Senate and the National Assembly – have a budget of Sh41 billion, up from Sh38 billion in the previous fiscal year.
Senator Murungi, who is also the Liaison committee chairperson, said they have resolved to put a stop to all committee meetings after they were allocated Sh322 million to run the committees in the financial year ending June 30, 2024.
The allocation represents a budget reduction from the Sh485 million they received in the Financial Year ended June 2023.
Mr Murungi said the resolution was agreed upon during a meeting on July 12, 2023 after consideration of the budget.
“We have resolved to reject the budget allocated to the Senate committees for the financial year ended June 2024 following reduction of allocation from Sh485 million in the financial year ended June 2023 to Sh322 million in the current financial year, and to suspend all committee operations until the matter is resolved,” said the Meru Senator. “Please take necessary action to implement the above resolutions.”
The communication to all committee chairpersons is copied to Speaker Amason Kingi and Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye.
Mr Nyegenye is theSecretary of the Commission whose deputy chairperson is nominated Senator Joyce Korir.
Out of the 10 commissioners- five are members of the National Assembly, three are senators, and of the remaining two, ex- Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama and Rachel Ameso, are members of the public.
According to a committee chairperson who spoke to Nation, the drastic move is the peak of silent protest by the lawmakers that has been going on for months.
Ceiling on budget
Recently, the PSC imposed a ceiling on the budget for Senate committees for meetings held outside the precincts of Parliament, capping the upper limit at Sh4.7 million per committee annually.
This, according to the senator, has forced most committees to file most of their reports in Nairobi due to the budgetary constraints.
On Thursday, the Commission held a day-long crunch meeting with the Liaison committee as they sought to resolve the deadlock that is threatening to ground the crucial roles of the Senate.
The committees are considered the heartbeat of the Senate as most oversight and legislation roles are done by the panels. The committees consider bills, statements and petitions filed to the House by the members of the public.
Currently, the various Senate committees are considering 17 Bills which are due for second reading. Several petitions and statements are also pending before the committees.
The Senate has 21 committees where four are housekeeping committees, three sessional and the rest standing committees.
The sessional ones include the two watchdog committees of county public accounts and county public investments and special funds with the third being the committee on delegated legislation.
The housekeeping committees include liaison, procedures and rules, powers and privileges and Senate House business committee.
Since the advent of devolution in 2013, the two Houses have engaged fierce supremacy battles as they sought to outdo each other with the fights revolving around legislation and budget.
Currently, the two Houses are battling a case in the Supreme Court after the Senate challenged enactment of some 23 pieces of legislation that were passed without their input.
In 2020, the High Court annulled the legislations, but the same was overturned by the Court of Appeal following an appeal filed by the Senate.
Early this week, the Supreme Court gave the National Assembly and the Senate 60 days to resolve their long-standing tussle over the laws.
County Public Investments and Special Funds committee chairperson Godfrey Osotsi, however, yesterday defied the suspension going on with his committee meeting where Siaya County government appeared before the panel.
“It is upon the members to decide. It is the same people who have supported the Senate being left out of the budget making process. It is ironic,” said Mr Osotsi.
