By ALEX NDEGWA

Members of Parliament have lately engaged in doublespeak that would pass for comic relief were it not for the absurdity and seriousness of issues involved.

The latest debacle involved the Statutes Law (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2012, which saw members sit into the night rewriting electoral laws to discard provisions they had passed last year.

A day later, forced by public outrage, embarrassed members reversed some of the offensive changes and only struck out entire sections on Thursday after the President vetoed them.

A review by The Standard On Saturday of parliamentary proceedings highlights some instances in which MPs have unapologetically made U-turns. Standing out for its absurdity MP Gideon Mbuvi’s spectacular flip-flopping during debate on a report about the depreciation of the shilling.

Contributing to debate in March on a recommendation indicting Central Bank of Kenya Governor Njuguna Ndung’u, Mbuvi tabled a report he alleged questioned the moneyman’s performance to buttress calls for him to quit.

Interjecting during a contribution by a colleague who defended the Governor, the maverick MP cited the agony that Kenyans had gone through adding: “Huyu Mbunge hayuko sawa kumsifu Gavana (my colleague is not in order to praise the Governor).”

“Kutokana na ripoti ambayo nimetoa tunamwomba huyu Gavana ajiuzulu kazi kwa sababu kazi imemshinda (based on this report, we ask the Governor to resign because he has failed),” said Mbuvi.

But shortly thereafter, Mbuvi voted for an amendment to expunge sections of the reports that adversely mentioned Prof Ndung’u.

Exposed indecision
Debate on a report of the House Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, which opposed the appointment of Mumo Matemu, Jane Onsongo and Irene Keino to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission exposed similar indecision.

Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa, a member of the committee, backed the recommendations to reject the nominees during debate on December 15.
“They are competent and people of high integrity,” Wamalwa said. “However, are they suitable for the job? They did not satisfy us.”

But on May 10, Wamalwa – as Justice minister – seconded a Motion to approve the same nominees.
“The purpose of this Motion is just to approve the names that we have put before this House so that we ensure that this country has a commission that can fight corruption,” said Wamalwa.

Government Whip Jakoyo Midiwo, too, had voted for the committee’s report opposing the nominees.
But Midiwo changed tune when the list was re-introduced in Parliament after the report was narrowly defeated 50-49.

“If it was not for me, these names could have passed in December last year,” said Midiwo, adding the excuse “I questioned the procedure,” to explain the new stand.

Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo has also somersaulted on the requirement that MPs hold university degrees.

Degree requirement 
Last year when the House passed the Elections Bill, he had voted against the requirement that MPs hold a university degree.

This month he championed calls to impose a degree, then at some point was among members passing a petition to lower the academic credentials, before seeing to it that a proposed waiver for MPs and councillors on high academic qualifications was lifted.

“We should support the requirement for university degrees,” Medical Services Assistant minister Kazungu Kambi, who expects to graduate at Baraton University, said this week. Kambi voted against the provision last year.

The position of politicians on the Mombasa Republican Council has also swung like a pendulum, as rivals battle to court the Coast.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga told Parliament on March 14 that the Government would only talk to MRC if they renounced violence and stopped secession calls.
But addressing ODM supporters in Likoni, the PM backed unconditional talks with the group because “MRC is speaking my language”.

This apparently was to counter his opponent, Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, who had – contrary to the Government position – stated that his United Democratic Forum would negotiate with MRC.

ODM and UDF scrambled to sponsor Motions to establish separate ad hoc committees on the MRC, but Speaker Kenneth Marende rejected the moves.
Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni authored the UDF Motion yet his reaction to the PM’s statement in Parliament indicated that he objected to the Government treating the MRC with kid gloves.

“We have had young Kikuyu men who were associated with the outlawed Mungiki sect. They were shot all over senselessly and never given an opportunity to the point where their leader was jailed,” Kioni said.

Prior, MPs shocked the country when they suddenly dropped their fight for better terms for bank borrowers, apparently appeased by a Sh3.7 million each sweeter in gratuity.

The protracted standoff over the Finance Bill occasioned by members’ resolve to control interest rates eased when the Government dangled the “golden handshake”.  When the amendment by Midiwo was moved on April 20, MPs — who had even defied President Kibaki and the PM — made a dramatic U-turn.

The Government won the vote to oppose interest rate caps by 58-17. Among those who voted against controlling interest caps was Wajir West MP Adan Keynan, who had chaired a Parliamentary Select Committee investigation on the rapid depreciation of the shilling.

Local tribunal 
Finance Assistant Minister Oburu Oginga reportedly sent one of the text messages inviting MPs allied to ODM for “lunch” at Gazebo Grill restaurant while his boss Njeru Githae hosted other MPs at another deal-making “lunch” at the Panafric hotel.

ODM MPs Cyprian Omollo, Omondi Anyanga, Wilbur Otichillo, and Alfred Sambu were among those who voted against the proposal by ODM Whip Midiwo. However, the intervention by the International Criminal Court remains the one issue on which nearly the entire Tenth Parliament has backtracked.

Since February 2009 when Parliament voted against the establishment of a local Tribunal, MPs have switched positions to the point that they find themselves wired in a maze.

Chepalungu MP Isaac Ruto, who voted against the local tribunal preferring the ICC, successfully lobbied a Motion to pull Kenya out of the ICC in December 2010.

Assistant minister Aden Sugow, who had opposed a local tribunal, echoing the rallying call, “Let us not be vague in this House, let us go to The Hague” backed Ruto’s Motion with the new call, “taking our sovereignty back”.

Assistant minister Lewis Nguyai, who would later become a fierce opponent of the ICC, had said in 2009: “We want the key perpetrators of these particular atrocities to go to The Hague because we have developed a culture of impunity.” Kangundo MP Johnstone Muthama is also known to have taken a U-turn on the ICC cases.