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"id": 196340,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Deputy Speaker",
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"content": "Hon. Members, on Tuesday, 15th April, 2008, the Member for Igembe South, Mr. Linturi, rose on a point of order and requested the Chair to guide the House on the following matters: The implication of the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, 2008, and the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Act, 2008, on the sitting arrangement in the House. The Member cited Standing Order No.172(2), which states:- \"All seats in the Front Benches of the Chamber to the left of Mr. Speaker shall be reserved for leaders of Opposition Parties and Members of the Official Opposition Party designated as having responsibility in particular matters\". The implication of the formation of a Grand Coalition Government comprising the largest parties in the House on the provisions of Section 1(a) of the Constitution of Kenya, which states:- \"The Republic of Kenya shall be a multiparty democratic State\". The Member went ahead to suggest that Members who are not Ministers should be allowed to constitute an Official Grand Opposition Coalition to perform the role envisaged for an opposition party in a democratic system. Hon. Members, these are, indeed, weighty matters and the Chair fully appreciates the gravity of the issues at hand, especially on the entire realm of governance. As I promised on Tuesday, I would like to guide the House as follows on the matters raised. I will start by drawing the attention of Members to the fact that the issues we are grumbling with now have cropped up in this House in the past and it is important that we take cognisance of the manner in which they were addressed as they constitute a precedent and a practice in our National Assembly. On 13th November, 1963, Members requested the Chair to give guidance, or to guide the House, on the sitting arrangement given that the Government had a big majority who could not fit on the right hand side of the Chair. The Chair then, the late hon. Humphrey Slade, issued the following communication: \"I think some Members have not yet become accustomed to the new arrangement for sitting. I referred to this yesterday, but I do not think all the Members were here. The arrangement is on account of the size of the Government's supporters' party and, therefore, 526 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 17, 2008 on my left, as far as the gangway, seats are reserved for the Opposition. The rest of the seats on both sides of the House are available for Government supporters. Therefore, I ask the Members of the Opposition to move up a little to this side of the gangway\" That was the ruling. He went further and said:- \"We shall, in a day or two, provide a definite barrier on the Front Bench - the arm of a seat - so that there will be no difficulty\". On 24th September, 1964, following similar requests, the then Deputy Speaker, the hon. De Souza ruled that:- \"Technically speaking, an hon. Member can sit anywhere in this House, but there are certain conventions laid down. The conventions laid down are that there are certain seats of Government Benches reserved for Government Members and there are certain Benches made for Opposition Members, so that people can identify them. If a person wants to go and sit somewhere else, obviously he causes a certain amount of confusion and, as Mr. Speaker pointed out, he makes a very bad impression of himself. But the Government Front Bench is invariably reserved for Ministers. It is a convention and, as far as I am concerned, it should be adhered to. I would appeal to hon. Members that even if technically they can sit anywhere, they should still abide by these conventions. They have been followed in this House for very many years and are in keeping with the smooth running of Parliament and they do assist with the running of Parliament instead of Members going all over the place and creating a disturbance\". Hon. Members, let me now address myself to specific concerns raised by Mr. Linturi. First, on the question of sitting arrangement, it is my view that Standing Order No.172(1) suffices in addressing the matter and hence should be adhered to. It states as follows:- \"All seats in the Front Benches of the Chamber to the right of the Speaker shall be reserved for the exclusive use of Ministers\". However, as alluded to earlier, there have been instances where Government Ministers overflow to the Front Benches traditionally reserved for the Opposition on the left side of the Chair, as was noted in the ruling of 13th November, 1963. Secondly, on the suggestion that Members should constitute an Official Opposition party, I would like to draw the attention of the House to Standing Order No.2, which states, and I quote:- \"Official Opposition party means the opposition party consisting of not less than 30 Members of Parliament\". Provided that there are two or more parties with more than 30 Members, the party with the highest number of seats in the House shall be deemed to be the Official Opposition party. The question of the Members of the House grouping to constitute an Official Grand Coalition Opposition Party, therefore, does not arise as they cannot for all interests and purposes, be deemed to constitute a party. Let me also draw the attention of the House to the provisions of Section 17 of the National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act, Cap.7, with regard to Members of different parties joining the Government. \"No person who is elected or nominated as a Member of the National Assembly with the support of or as a supporter of a political party, other than the party whose candidate has been elected President at an election, shall be appointed a Minister of the Government of Kenya under Section 16 of the Constitution without the concurrence of the party which supported him for election or nominated him for April 17, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 527 appointment as a Member of the National Assembly\". Hon. Members, the Chair takes it that all Parliamentary parties in the Grand Coalition have complied with that provisions of our own statutes. I am made to understand that only KADDU, the party of Mr. Jirongo, is not part of the Coalition Government. Thirdly, on the implication of the formation of the Grand Coalition Government with regard to Section 1(A) of the Constitution, my understanding is that the parties have not been disbanded. They are merely co-operating in Parliament and in the Government for now. For the information of the Members, there are 23 parties represented in the House and hundreds of others which are registered by appropriate authorities and there is, therefore, absolutely no contradiction in as far as that is concerned. In my view, the operations of the Committees shall not and should not be affected in their oversight role, especially given that a number of them, particularly the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Investments Committee have remained effective even under one-party rule. These Committees perform a watchdog role on behalf of the House and my advice is that Members who will be nominated to serve in those Committees must be vigilant at all times. Hon. Members, arising from the foregoing, I order that the Front Benches on the right of the Chair will be occupied by Ministers in accordance with Standing Order No.172(1) and conventions which this House holds in high esteem. That, in the event that the size of the Cabinet makes it necessary that Ministers need to occupy the Front Benches on my left, I am inclined to allow them following the ruling by my predecessor, the late hon. Humphrey Slade, made on 13th November, 1963, until such a time that the House will have an Official Opposition party as stipulated by the Standing Orders. Under the same, the Chair also rules in accordance with the ruling that was given by the late Humphrey Slade when only Mr. Shikuku was left in the Opposition, and in which case, the late Humphrey Slade ruled that Mr. Shikuku would sit on the left of the Speaker, on the Bench that is closest to him. Under the circumstances, I rule that, Mr. Jirongo will sit on the left on the Bench that is closest to me. That any parliamentary party that is not in the Coalition Government and has the requisite number of Members capable of naming a Shadow Cabinet, shall be recognised by the Chair as Official Opposition and appropriate action taken when that happens. That, whereas Members have a responsibility and, indeed, a duty to hold the Government accountable, it is paramount that whatever measures that may be taken, be done within the rules and where amendments are necessary, action be taken. As the Speaker indicated upon his election, and that of the Deputy Speaker of the Kenya National Assembly, the Chair will submit itself to the will of the House and will, therefore, uphold and enforce the rules of procedure without fear or favour. The rules are made by the House itself. It is the Members of Parliament who make the rules for this House. The so-called Grand Official Coalition Opposition, that some Members wish to establish, must be done within the confines of the rules of procedure and necessary statutes. In which case, as we talk now, we do not have a provision for that under the circumstances that were tabled by Members last week. Members of Parliament who are not in the Cabinet are at liberty to occupy the Back Benches on both sides of the House. A Member, or Members who is or are in a party or parties and not in the Government will notify the Chair and will be allocated seats on the left side of the Chair. I draw the attention of the House to the year 1964 when the Member for Butere, Mr. Shikuku, was allocated his own seat on the left side of the Chair as I had indicated earlier. Hon. Members, in conclusion therefore, I take this opportunity to appeal to the leaders of the political parties to take note of the concerns raised by the Members and exercise due diligence in the appointment of the Chairs and Members of the oversight and scrutiny Committees and to ensure that they discharge their duties effectively and efficiently in that role for which they are assigned, 528 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 17, 2008 on behalf of the House and the people of Kenya. Thank you."
}