President Uhuru Kenyatta, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and
Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro after his State of the Nation speech on
March 26, 2015. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
When Kenyans passed and subsequently promulgated the new
Constitution in 2010, the message was very clear: that citizens wanted
to be consulted on everything being done on their behalf by their
leaders and that transparency was not optional.
Indeed
the wording of Article 1 of our Constitution stamps this fact, that
sovereign power belongs to the people and that this power is exercised
on behalf of the people by specified institutions.
This
delegation requires that the holders of the specified offices consult
the people in making decisions that affect them. Public participation is
now a mandatory aspect of our parliamentary processes.
I
am concerned that civil society activists, commentators, and other
stakeholders deliberately avoid the issue of public participation,
choosing instead to focus on controversial issues such as gender and
laptops. Yes, I agree, gender and laptops matter, but can we have a
wholesome debate?
We have to dispense with this crucial element in a satisfactory manner in order to fully implement our Constitution.
I
made a special request when I met senior editors under the auspices of
the Editors Guild that the media help to implement this critical
provision.
The editors complained that some of our
committees in Parliament were not open for coverage by the media. No
committee sittings are supposed to be closed without the authority of
the Speaker. Most of the committees of the National Assembly are open.
This
August, we have the parliamentary open week. As we intensify our
outreach to the people on the ground through participation in such
events as agricultural shows across the country, we need the help of
every Kenyan to implement this provision of our Constitution. Even after
advertising in newspapers, citizens do not turn up for public hearings.
But when things go wrong, for example, the recent vetting and approval
of Dr Monica Juma as secretary to the Cabinet, everybody is ready to
criticise Parliament.
Sometimes the criticism is in
good faith, but more often than not, the debate is hijacked by parochial
interests. This process must be about the will of the people.
Those
seeking to hijack legitimate concerns about parliamentary processes
need to be told to air their views during public hearings. I am sure
that this process can add value to the Bills in the houses and even in
the counties.
We need to begin asking ourselves whether
this process is going on in the counties and whether the citizens use
it to ensure that the will of the people prevails. Devolution is
supposed to be about the people, but it is doubtful that the people are
part of the process of governance in their counties.
This
is a challenge that the county assemblies and the executives must
address. Parliament is pursuing all possible avenues to bridge this gap.
I
am hopeful that technology can be deployed to advance this provision of
our Constitution. During Parliament’s open week, I would like to hear
proposals on how Parliament can intensify its engagement with the
people.
I would also like to hear from Kenyans how we
can deploy technology to advance public participation as a key component
of our legislative process.
Mr Muturi is the Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya and President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association-Africa. sna@parliament.go.ke
Mr Muturi is the Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya and President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association-Africa. sna@parliament.go.ke
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