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{
    "id": 997192,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/997192/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 142,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "parliamentary parties have on allocation of slots in committees to their Members and invocation of the discharge rule as a tool for enforcing party discipline, but should stretch the democratic space in the House with a view to incorporating fairness and inculcating the expectations of Articles 1, 94, 95, 97 and 103 of our Constitution in the criteria for sharing of Committee slots. This will guarantee the right of every Member of this House to execute their constitutional roles, particularly budget-making, scrutiny of legislation and vetting of appointments that are carried out in Committees, without any curtailment in the Standing Orders. In conclusion, Hon. Members, you will now agree with me that it will be procedurally improper and a sanction of recurrence of a procedural error, if I were to permit the discharge from committees, of Members belonging to small political parties and the Independents by parliamentary parties which have not entered into formal coalition agreements with those small parties. To this end, it is my considered view that I rule as follows: 1. THAT, the exercise of the discharge powers of a party under Standing Orders No.176 is restricted to Members belonging to the particular parliamentary party and those from other smaller parties who have entered into formal coalition agreements; 2. THAT, no parliamentary party is to exercise the discharge powers of a party under Standing Orders No.176 to remove a Member who is not a member of the particular parliamentary party from any Committee of the House, even on the basis of having granted the Member the nomination to the particular Committee, as that conception is based on misapplication of the Standing Orders; 3. THAT, since the Member for Ugenya Constituency, the Hon. David Ochieng, MP, neither belongs to any parliamentary party nor has his Movement for Democracy and Growth Party entered into a coalition with any of the parliamentary parties, the notice given by the Minority Party Whip to discharge him from the Departmental Committee on Health was erroneous ab initio and, therefore, invalid; 4. THAT, in view of the continued misapplication of Standing Order 174 by assuming that all committees’ slots are reserved for the exclusive distribution to the membership of parliamentary parties thereby alienating the Independent Members and Members belonging to parties other than parliamentary parties, soonest possible, the Committee on Selection, in consultation with the Procedure and House Rules Committee, does devise criteria for nomination of Members to Committees that guarantees that Members who belong to parties other than Parliamentary parties and Independent Members also get their rightful share of the 622 slots available for sharing in Committees. This may include proposals for registration of desired committee(s) and the use of lots as a means of determining how to place such Members in their entitled slots, few as they may be. 5. THAT, the Procedure and House Rules Committee does initiate the process of proposing amendments to the Standing Orders so as to expressly provide for the said criteria. The Committee may also propose the manner of ordinary reallocations of the slots in committees, corporately reserved for Independent Members and parties other than parliamentary parties amongst the Independent Members and those belonging to the small parties that do not constitute parliamentary parties; and, 6. THAT, in the meantime, I will not admit any requests to discharge any Member who is an Independent Member or belongs to a party other than a parliamentary party from a Committee until such a time as the criteria has been developed or the Standing Orders accordingly amended to entrench fairness and justice to all. The House is accordingly guided. I thank you, Hon. Members."
}