It has a been a hectic year for the 11th Parliament whose members are now bracing for the final stretch before the General Election, next year. The bi-cameral parliament (Senate and the National Assembly) unveiled after the 2013 General Election has faced many highs and lows in its performance, mainly in the crucial passage of bills and motions.
As at December 2, the National Assembly had passed at least 68 bills out of 141 that had been lined up for debate. Debate on different occasions was marked with heated exchanges and name-calling in some sessions, making the National Assembly gain a dubious distinction for trashing parliamentary order and decorum.
This year, a total of 112 petitions were passed and 199 motions were tabled and debated in the National Assembly. It is during this season that the MPs passed 28 key bills that needed full implementation of the Constitution. The MPs had in 2015 postponed the passage of the said bills by one year.
The bills had a deadline of August 27 and, had the MPs delayed passing them, they would have faced the risk of being sent home in accordance with constitutional provisions.
The Constitution in the Fifth Schedule stipulates that various laws in respect to culture, family, community land, regulation of land use and property and agreement relating to natural resources must have been passed by August 27.
The sensitive bills that the MPs passed include the Election Laws (amendment bill), the Community Land bill, the Physical Planning bill, the Petroleum Exploration and Production bill, the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges bill, Invitro fertilisation bill – known as the Assisted Reproductive Technology bill – the Land Laws (Amendment) bill, Political Parties (Amendments) bill and the Physical Planning bill among others.
But it was the In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) bill that calls for the inclusion of strict provisions to ensure that individuals who practice same sex marriages do not take advantage of the technology to procreate, the Election Amendment laws, the Land Laws and the Constitution Amendment bills that attracted heated debate in the House.
The Constitution Amendment bill by Ugenya MP David Ochieng, that sought to change the election date from the second Tuesday of every August to December attracted fiery debate but failed, while the bill seeking to amend Article 204 of the Constitution, that would see money allocated as the Equalisation Fund was passed and is currently in the Senate.
The Banking Act (Amendment) Bill, by Kiambu Town MP Jude Njomo that lowered the interest rate was another proposed legislation that attracted heated debate after MPs told banks off over high lending rates they had imposed on Kenyans.
Among the motions passed include the Report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Special Audit Report of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) as well as the report to establish a Joint Select Committee consisting of 14 members, seven each from the two Coalitions in Parliament.
Among the petitions included the removal of the Chairperson of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and removal of the Chairperson and eight Commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Come 2017 and enter the home straight for the Eleventh Parliament.
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