Saturday, January 12, 2013

They gave us new laws, but also stole our money



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President Mwai Kibaki at the promulgation of the new Constitution in 2010. PHOTO/FILE
President Mwai Kibaki at the promulgation of the new Constitution in 2010. PHOTO/FILE  NATION

Posted  Friday, January 11  2013 at  20:48
IN SUMMARY
  • On Thursday, the Tenth Parliament broke for the last time, hours after MPs had shamelessly awarded themselves a hefty send-off — complete with a package for state funerals — that would cost the taxpayer in excess of Sh2 billion. The public was outraged and the President asked not to assent to the Bill that would legalise the ‘grand theft’.
    But as Saturday Nation’s Alphonce Shiundu reports, this did not come as a surprise. This lot of MPs has set many precedents — and most of them have not been positive. We look at the ten milestones that define the legacy of this Parliament
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1) Gratuity for MPs
The MPs also go down in history as the only Parliament so far to approve a doubling of their send-off package – the severance package — from Sh1.5 million to Sh3.72 million, and then, within five months, tripling the package to Sh9.3 million per MP.
The President signed the Sh3.72 million package into law. However, he refused to approve the Sh9.3 million. He said it was unaffordable.
2) Approval of the Constitution
After many attempts to get a new Constitution — years after the independence Constitution had been mutilated — it was the Tenth Parliament that finally managed to get the document approved. However, it was a crazy day for the MPs that day on April 1, 2010 because they failed to amend the document to suit their taste.
They could not raise the 148 majority that was needed to see the amendments through. That’s how the Constitution sailed through.
It shall also be recorded that the Constitution made it through Parliament because of a roadmap that had the document drafted by a Committee of Experts and fine-tuned by a special parliamentary select committee.
The then Justice Minister, Ms Martha Karua, who figured out the roadmap and ensured it made it into the statutes of the country, will be remembered for that milestone.
The chairman of the PSC on Constitution Review, Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, who is the chairman of the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee will also have his name in the country’s history books.
3) House Committees
For the first time, it is in the Tenth Parliament that House committees got some teeth to do the oversight job on the Executive. The House wrested the budget-making role from the Treasury, and through the Budget Committee, it could alter the allocations from the Treasury.
Through the Public Accounts Committee, the MPs were also able to censure a Finance Minister, Mr Amos Kimunya, over the secret sale of the Grand Regency hotel.
The MPs also uncovered a Sh10 billion error in the supplementary budget from the Treasury, when Uhuru Kenyatta had just taken over from Mr Kimunya. Mr Kenyatta described the mistake as a “typing/printing” error.
The House committees also had a tiff with the Government Printer, after it emerged that he had surreptitiously sneaked in the words “national security” in the draft Constitution to curtail the freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
That anomaly was uncovered and the Government Printer was ordered to print fresh copies.
There were 29 standing committees in the House and several ad hoc committees were formed in the course of the life of the august House.
4) Appropriations Bill
In 2012, Parliament scored a milestone, because, for the first time, the MPs were able to approve the budget, and also the Appropriations Bill, before the end of the financial year.
The Appropriations Bill is the piece of legislation that allows the government to access the money allocated in the budget. Finance Minister Njeru Githae was over the moon, because, this was the first time that the government did not have to access the budget money on a provisional basis — while awaiting for the approval of the Appropriations Bill.
5) Finance Bill
The Tenth Parliament goes down in the history of the country as the only Parliament that failed to approve the Finance Bill before December 31. That happened in 2011. The MPs were protesting over the runaway inflation, high interest rates and weak Kenyan currency.
They told off President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, saying they will regulate the interest rates through legislation. The President instructed the Finance Minister not to table the Finance Bill for debate.
The year ended, and the country was on tenterhooks about collecting illegal taxes. At one point, it was estimated, that the Treasury would have to refund Sh3 billion in taxes that had been collected without the enactment of the Finance Bill.
MPs, however, struck a deal with the Head of State and approved the Finance Bill for the financial year 2011/2012
6) Swearing-in
The MPs were sworn in two times. First when they stepped into Parliament on the afternoon of January 15, 2008. The swearing-in rolled over into the wee hours of the next day. The second time the MPs got to swear the oath of office was on August 27, 2010 when the Constitution was promulgated.
7) Taxes
MPs put up a spirited attempt to dodge paying taxes on their allowances. The House was in a tight position when the Constitution was approved. The Constitution had a clause that required every public officer to pay tax.
The MPs said the taxation of their perks would be illegal, because, it would infringe on the rights that they already enjoyed. They thus forced the Treasury to set aside Sh2.5 billion to pay their taxes from August 27, 2010 when the Constitution was promulgated to January 14, 2013 when their term expires.
8)The Term of Parliament
Since independence, the term of Parliament has always ended within five years of a General Election. However, for the Tenth Parliament, the MPs were spared early goodbyes when the court declared that their term will end on the fifth anniversary of their first sitting. The MPs were elected on December 27, 2007.
The House first sat on January 15, 2008. So the MPs liked the court ruling, and because the new Constitution had taken away the powers of the President to dissolve Parliament, the Tenth Parliament sat for a full five years.
9) Allegations of extortion
Finance assistant minister Oburu Oginga shocked Parliament when he alleged that Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo had attempted to extort a company money over a pending question in the House regarding tax evasion. Mr Kiema denied the allegations. Dr Oginga promised to table evidence to prove his allegations.
But the matter ended when the Speaker said the evidence will be handled by the Committee on Privileges. The Speaker later purged the debate on the allegations from the House records.
10) Seats
Whenit was said each of the House seats would cost Sh400,000, there was an uproar. They cut the amount to Sh200,000 and still had the seats made by the Kenya Prisons.
It was a book transfer between Parliament and Kenya Prisons, but Kenyans are yet to understand the Sh200,000 per seat cost.

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