Don’t criticise the State for the sake of it, MPs told

Kenya: Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi has called on parliamentarians to observe the separation of powers to avoid stalling development.

Mr Muturi said while the Legislature has an oversight role over the Government, the executive has a mandate to govern and MPs should not impede it and the other arms of the Government.

Commenting about the complaints over mega government projects by the parliamentarians such the Standard Gauge Railway, Muturi said sometimes the complaints are baseless and  do not warrant oversight.

“We must allow them (other government arms) do what they must under the Constitution and where they go wrong we point it out. Sometimes it happens that we are going out when nothing has really happened to warrant oversight,” he said. 

The Speaker, who was speaking on ‘Moving the masses’, a national TV programme sponsored by the National Anti-corruption Steering Committee, said by critising the Government unnecessarily, Parliament will have veered off their mandate of legislating and representation.

Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter had claimed the railway project was riddled with corruption but the deal was given a clean bill of health by a parliamentary committee to which he testified.

A security project awarded to Safaricom has been suspended by a parliamentary committee over queries on the tendering process.