This archive report was first published on 1 November 2019.
Published on November 1, 2019, a parliamentary conference was held to assess the performance of committees in the legislative process.
Under the current Constitution, parliamentary committees have taken on a more critical role in the legislative process. Unlike in the past, when the President, Vice-President, and Cabinet ministers were elected Members of Parliament and participated in parliamentary proceedings, they are now excluded from this role.
The relationship between the Executive and Legislature has shifted dramatically, with the Leader of Majority in Parliament taking charge of government business in the House. As a result, committees have become the platforms where matters affecting respective ministries are addressed and channelled to Parliament.
Departmental committees are responsible for interrogating issues within their docket and presenting them to the House for deliberation and ratification. They also play a key role in vetting and approving public appointments, which is a critical aspect of the current Constitution that emphasizes public participation in national matters.
However, there are areas of public concern. Committees have been faulted for poor vetting of State appointees, approving individuals without qualifications and credentials to key positions, and failing to veto poorly conceived programmes from ministries.
Corruption is also rife within the committees, where public figures who ought to be censured for transgressions are sheltered after cutting deals, and unqualified people land jobs they do not deserve. Additionally, committees suffer from poor attendance of sessions, forcing Speaker Justin Muturi to threaten to punish the culprits.
Some members only dash in to sign the attendance sheet to get allowances but hardly participate in the deliberations. MPs have also become notorious for making useless trips abroad under the guise of experience sharing yet there are no outcomes from them.
Convening the forum is an important step towards redressing the weaknesses and anomalies of the committees. To strengthen them, committees need to be staffed with qualified people and their effectiveness needs to be assessed regularly.
