MPs on the spot again for cozying up to witnesses

More than three years after National Assembly Justin Muturi read the riot act for MPs over what he termed bad behaviour in committee sittings, they are at it again.

This time, it’s worse since the MPs shout as if in a marketplace, jeering the chair of committees in the middle of probes with witnesses present and in the full glare of television cameras.

The MPs got a dress-down from the Speaker in 2018 after Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i was grilled by the National Security and Administration committee on the deportation of Miguna Miguna - and this happened again last week after the case of re-assignment of Deputy President William Ruto’s security detail.

Although the 11th Parliament had issues with committee members for allegedly being compromised, resulting in the dissolution of the Budget and Appropriation Committee over a ‘State House gift’ and the Public Accounts Committee over the ‘Hustler jet’ fiasco, the conduct of the 12th Parliament committees has outdone the previous ones.

From 2018, the conduct of the House has been questioned when MPs were accused of being cozy with witnesses who they invite as provided for in Article 125 of the Constitution, for evidence.

Muturi complained that some MPs were treating their committee responsibilities lightly and ordered them to keenly follow attendance of meetings and take their roles seriously.

The directive was one of many handed down to parliamentary committees following an earlier one warning MPs against being too cozy with persons summoned by the House for investigations.

“Witnesses should be ushered in and escorted out by the secretariat or Sergeant-at-Arms. Any proposal by any organs to confer a committee activity should be treated with contempt it deserves and with caution.

“Gross misconduct of a member during a committee sitting should be reported to the Speaker for disciplinary action,” Muturi ordered then.

He also cautioned MPs against probing matters being handled by other agencies, saying it amounted to duplication of duties and wastage of taxpayers’ money.

Presently, the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) Covid-19 equipment procurement probe before the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is also before MPs.

But the Matiang’i case and recent probe by the Finance committee after it summoned Equity Bank managers, raises questions on the oversight role of MPs.

Equity Bank is a private institution and there are questions whether any banking regulations were breached.

Political analyst Javas Bigambo accused the MPs of seeking to score political ”bonga points” as opposed to discharging their duty.

“The sittings are politically managed. We know Parliament functions effectively through committees as they are quasi-judicial, however, they produce shoddy reports that are not taken seriously and get rejected in the House,” said Bigambo.

Integrity of the House

“In the case of Matiang’i, it was an abortive mission. They exercised political pendent as opposed to dealing with substantive and procedural issues. It turned out to be a political expose as opposed to addressing the issue of averting risk, harm or danger.”

In 2018, then-Majority Leader Aden Duale raised this matter and urged the Speaker to rule on the conduct of MPs hobnobbing with witnesses in committee hearings, saying the integrity of the House was at stake.

This was at the height of joint committees of Trade and Agriculture inquiring into the import of poisonous sugar, which saw Speaker Muturi open investigations into bribery claims against MPs for shooting down the report.

Members of the National Assembly Public Investments Committee (PIC) investigating Kemsa have been on the spot for zealously defending witnesses being grilled on their role in the billion-shilling scandal.

Claims of bribery have stalked parliamentary committees, with members said to have been bribed to alter their reports in favour of certain individuals.

In April, alcohol manufacturer London Distillers accused members of the Committee on the Implementation of House Resolutions of accepting bribes in form of subsidised houses from a real estate firm.

The bribe was allegedly intended to have the committee doctor a report in favour of the firm to push for the closure of London Distillers by finding that it had polluted the environment.

“Parliament does not act in vain. It has teeth to bite. The seriousness of the matters being discussed in committees must be seen in the manner that members treat and engage the witnesses,” Duale said then.

Minority Leader John Mbadi concurred.

“Listen to the committee, the report is just a joke of the highest order. When you go there ( to the committees), you are supposed to safeguard the interests of the House, not rent-seeking,” Mbadi said.

“State officers must conduct themselves in a manner that avoids conflict of interest or demeans their offices.” Most committees have failed to live up to expectations and bashed over shoddy investigations which result in reports being rejected.

Mbadi and Duale faulted the MPs whom at some point lobby for jobs for relatives and supporters.

Muturi directed that as a rule, a member of a committee will be required to declare interest in the matter under investigation.

The Speaker made the ruling to restore sanity in committees, which saw the Standing Orders reviewed to require an MP joining a committee sitting as “a friend” to notify the chair in writing 24 hours before.

Muturi said there is a trend where MPs attend meetings as “friends of the committee” to show solidarity with their kin when they appear as witnesses or persons of interest.

“Don’t become a friend of the committee merely because a person from your village is appearing,” he warned.

On Wednesday, it was like a marketplace during the hearing on the DP’s security changes, especially when members bashed Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei’s push to have the Senate involved too.

They shouted that the CS had no business appearing before the Senate.

The House Standing Orders require that if a member has an issue with a fellow member in the same House, they should move a substantive motion on the same.

The committee chair Peter Mwathi (Limuru) didn’t call out the members but instead backed the assertions.

Senator Cherargei secured 16 signatures from colleagues to ask Speaker Ken Lusaka to convene a special sitting to deliberate on the matter. 

“We are resuming House sitting next week. I shared the signatures and subject matter with both the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader as per the Standing Orders. I will be pursuing the matter in the House,” said Cherargei.