Major clash looms between the two Houses

By  MOSES NJAGIH and VITALIS KIMUTAI

Kenya: A major collision looms between the two Houses of Parliament over jurisdiction.

Both Speakers from Senate and National Assembly gave contradicting rulings last evening over the fate of the Division of Revenue Bill.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and Senate Deputy Speaker Kembi Gitura gave in their respective Houses differing positions over the Bill that that seeks to divide revenue between the National and County Governments.

The Bill had already been passed by the National Assembly and forwarded to the Senate by Muturi  for concurrence.

But in a surprising turn of events, Muturi yesterday gave a ruling that it was erroneous for the Bill to have been committed before the Senate.

“I am now persuaded that the Division of Revenue Bill is a Bill whose passage the Constitution envisages to be the sole prerogative of the National Assembly,” ruled Muturi yesterday in response to a query raised by Suba MP John Mbadi.

Mbadi had argued that while the Standing Orders and the Public Finance Management Act stipulated that the Bill be forwarded to the Senate after its passing by the National Assembly.

Muturi in his ruling stated that it was incumbent on the National Assembly to revisit the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act 2012 to harmonise them with the Constitution.  Gitura said the the Speaker of the National Assembly submitted the Bill to the Senate, and it was being discussed on the basis of a constitutional tenet.