National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana
Rawal and National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale during the sixth
Mashujaa Day celebrations on October 20, 2015. Among proposals contained
in the Parliamentary Service Bill by Eldas MP Adan Keynan are a special
police unit to protect Parliament’s leaders and MPs and a university
for legislators and parliament staff. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA
GROUP
MPs have come up with more extravagant proposals that will afford them additional specialised treatment.
Among
proposals contained in the Parliamentary Service Bill by Eldas MP Adan
Keynan are a special police unit to protect Parliament’s leaders and MPs
and a university for legislators and parliament staff.
Diplomatic
passports for MPs, speakers and clerks of both houses and members of
the Parliamentary Service Commission and their spouses are also in the
offing if it is passed into law.
Tabled in the National
Assembly on Wednesday, the Bill says the police unit will be under the
supervision of the National Police Service and Inspector-General of
Police Joseph Boinnet shall appoint an officer in the rank of assistant
commissioner or higher to head it.
The PSC has accorded
itself wide ranging powers over the proposed unit, set up in similar
fashion to the presidential police escort.
The Bill
says the Inspector-General of Police and National Police Service
Commission are expected to take into account the views of the PSC over
operating procedures and staffing for of the unit.
“The commission may request the transfer or redeployment of officers,” it says.
It is unclear why MPs require a special unit as they already enjoy protection by police.
The
Bill, which is likely to elicit memories of a Parliament keen on
pampering itself at the expense of taxpayers, also seeks to create a
parliamentary fund whose key provision is that allocations from the
Treasury would not be returned should there be a balance at the end of
the financial year.
SH50,000 FINE
The Bill is also likely to raise questions about access to public information, with fines of Sh50,000 or one year in prison for employees who divulge information regarding its operations without the permission of the chairperson.
SH50,000 FINE
The Bill is also likely to raise questions about access to public information, with fines of Sh50,000 or one year in prison for employees who divulge information regarding its operations without the permission of the chairperson.
According to Mr Keynan, the proposed law is meant to align the PSC with the new Constitution.
No comments :
Post a Comment