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{
    "id": 997176,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/997176/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 126,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Article 85 of the Constitution recognizes and permits any person to stand as an independent candidate for election if the person is not a Member of a political party. It cannot, thereafter, be that independent Members who are also democratically elected representatives of the people for purposes of Article 1 of the Constitution, should be excluded from sitting in committees or the business that they do not belong to a parliamentary party. Suffice to say, no rule or interpretation can be used to take away, disadvantage, limit, stifle, or restrict that which the Constitution has laid out in plain and clear terms as being permitted. To do so would be an attempt to rewrite the Constitution without amending it. Hon. Members, Article 95 of the Constitution is also clear on the role of a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly, which includes representation, legislation, oversight, budget making and vetting of public appointees among other key roles. Undoubtedly, this is one of the architectural features and designs of a Presidential system of governance, where every representation counts and every Member in the House counts. If a Member of Parliament (MP) is to discharge these duties through committees, would it hold that, a Member should be denied the right to exercise these functions on the basis that he or she belongs to a party other than a parliamentary political party or is an independent Member? If that were the case, would this also imply that the people of the constituencies represented by such Members ought to be disenfranchised by being excluded from having a fair chance to participate in the parliamentary aspects that take place in Committees? This definitely cannot be the case and to argue otherwise would severely negate the principle of participation of the people through their democratically elected representatives, which is enshrined in our Constitution. In addition, while appreciating that Kenya is a multiparty democratic State as spelt out in Article 4 of the Constitution, you will agree that in so far as representation is concerned, it is not the intention of this provision to inhibit the participation of any Member of the House from undertaking the collective roles and functions of Parliament and the National Assembly in particular, as provided for under Articles 94 and 95 of the Constitution, on account of the medium under which the Member was elected or nominated into the House. Further, my reading of Article 85 does not, in any way, imply that Members elected as Independent candidates are less important legislators. It is also notable that Standing Order No.174 (2) provides as follows: (2) Despite paragraph (1), a Member belonging to a party other than a parliamentary party or Independent Member may be nominated to serve in a Select Committee and the allocation of membership of Select Committees shall be as nearly as practicable proportional to the number of Members belonging to such parties and Independent Members. It is, therefore, clear that a Member belonging to a party other than a parliamentary party is equally entitled to serve in a Committee of the House. That provision in our Standing Orders even contemplated a situation where a substantial number of Members of the House would belong to small parties or would be Independent Members. The manner in which Standing Order No.174 (2) is couched also finds its footing from other comparable Commonwealth jurisdictions and according to the latest Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Recommended Benchmarks for Democratic Legislatures on Committees Organisation allow me to quote: “The Legislature’s assignment of Committee Members on each Committee shall include both majority and minority party Members and reflect the political composition of the legislature.” I wish to emphasise the words “reflect the political composition of the Legislature” because this is what Standing Order No.174 (2) tries to achieve by recognising that a Member The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}