Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has accused members of the National Assembly of using parliamentary privilege to attack and intimidate officials in other arms of government.
He said Parliament’s leadership should guard against abuse of that privilege, warning that unchecked attacks could weaken the principle of separation of powers and make it harder for government institutions to work together.
“The leaders of Parliament must ensure that parliamentary privilege is not abused. They must protect those who do not have the platform to defend themselves from adverse attack by MPs, otherwise it will be very difficult for other arms of Government to work well.”
The remarks came after a heated exchange in the National Assembly, where MPs criticised Matiang’i for failing to appear before committees to answer questions about his ministry. Legislators said he had not responded to about 60 questions raised by members, prompting Speaker Justin Muturi to direct the Committee on National Security to invoke parliamentary summons against him. Some MPs also raised the possibility of impeachment.
The confrontation was triggered by his absence before the committee earlier in the day, when lawmakers expected him to address, among other issues, an alleged crisis at the Prisons Department.
Matiang’i dismissed the criticism as unfounded and said he had records showing repeated appearances before the committee. He said he had also submitted two files of answers to questions raised by MPs.
“I have appeared before that one committee a record 39 times this year alone. I have all the records of my appearances and those of the officers from my ministry. Where are these 60 questions that they claim I have failed to answer? Let them bring them forth,” Matiang’i said.
He further accused some MPs of hiding behind parliamentary privilege to settle personal scores. Matiang’i said he had written a clarification note to Muturi and objected to the way the Speaker handled the debate, saying false claims were allowed to stand against him.
“Some of those who were strongly attacking me on the floor of the House are not even members who sit in the security committee,” he said.
“The criticism I faced was not right and fair. Common decency requires that you exercise fairness, especially when exercising an exclusive privilege.”
The committee had noted that this was not the first time Matiang’i had failed to appear before it.
