Legislators from Tana River County were the least active in Parliament with a score of 0.30 per cent between September 29, 2022, and June 30, 2023.
According to a new report by Mzalendo Trust, Tana River was at par with Tharaka Nithi at 0.30 per cent, followed by Vihiga (0.50 per cent), Nyandarua (0.60 per cent), Samburu (0.70 per cent) and
Garissa (0.70 per cent).
The most active counties in Parliament were Nandi (7.8 per cent), Nairobi (6.0 per cent), Kisumu (4.8 per cent), Laikipia (3.9 per cent) and Bungoma (3.9 per cent).
Motions in parliament
The two houses considered a total of 66 bills with a priority on recurrent public finance legislation and a focus area of the Executive.
The National Assembly considered 191 motions, 297 questions, 59 statements and 32 petitions. The Senate considered 31 bills, with two originating from the National Assembly.
The Bills that were passed into law from the Senate were the County Governments’ Additional Allocation Bill, 2022, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Division of Revenue Bill, 2023.
61 motions were also filed at the Senate, 315 statements sought and 24 petitions filed.
A member of the National Assembly averagely spoke 10 times, with 187 (68.14%) members speaking less than that.
On the other hand, a Senator spoke an average of 41 times, with only one Senator speaking less than 10 times.
“Unlike the National Assembly, all Senators also managed to contribute in plenary. This can be attributed to the difference in numbers between the two Houses with the National Assembly having 349
members while 67 members sit in the Senate,” the report noted.
During this period, key areas of concern among Kenyans were the high cost of living, high rate of unemployment, prolonged drought, insecurity, the Shakahola Massacre, cost of energy, implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum, public debt, sexual abuse in workplaces, welfare of migrant workers, state of healthcare and NHIF, food security, police brutality, climate concerns, state of mental health and land matters.
