Cabinet Secretaries will now be appearing before the National Assembly plenary with effect from 23rd of this month.
This is after Members of Parliament approved changes to standing orders to allow the CSs to be appearing before the plenary every Wednesday afternoon to answer questions posed by members.
The standing orders that have been amended include Standing Order 25A which has now allowed a Cabinet Secretary to expound on government policy, reply to questions, provide reports concerning matters under his or her control and other persons to make submissions or presentations before the House.
Standing Order 39 has also been amended to read as follows, “that the Clerk shall prepare and publish on the parliamentary website a tentative list of Cabinet Secretaries scheduled to reply to questions and provide reports to the House, a weekly programme showing the business of the House and a schedule of sittings of the various committees; and shall circulate such programmes to Members, State Departments, and the media not later than the Friday of the week preceding such business”
Speaking while moving the amendment motion on behalf of the Procedure and House Rules Committee, Ugenya MP David Ochieng defended the move saying it would result in CSs being more accountable to Kenyans.
“What will happen is that every Wednesday we will convert the House to plenary where CSs will be appearing, the majority leader will be telling us one week prior who will be appearing, and members will have a chance to ask supplementary questions,” he said.
“This House will be richer if all members hold CSs to account, rather than a few members of the committee doing that. We will also avoid a situation where CSs have been shacking their responsibility” Ochieng added.
While seconding the motion, majority leader Kimani Ichungwa noted that this was not the first time such attempts were being made, although this time round there was political goodwill from the executive.
Ichungwa noted that it has been difficult for the chairperson of the committees to come and answer questions that are not in their purview.
“I want to say that CSs must now be ready to come before the people’s representatives and answer questions with effect from 23rd march, and the speaker can exercise his discretion and allow as many follow up questions as possible, they must come prepared” He said.
Despite the move, some legal experts and opposition MPs have opined that the move requires a referendum to be effected as it is basically changing the structure of executive by allowing CSs to sit in plenary.
