Parliament has reached a stage where it does not look to the outside for technical leadership for the institution.
This past week saw both the National Assembly and the Senate retreat to induct elected members of the 12th Parliament on their mandate and prepare for the next five years. I had the privilege to attend the induction for members of the National Assembly.
Several things struck me at the session. First, many Kenyans only focus on the legislators. However, a lot of work is undertaken by technical staff who support the leaders in discharging their mandate.
For a decade or so Parliament has been on a path of professionalising its staff. The results of this process are evident for anybody who pays a closer look to the quality of technical outputs that Parliament generates. Parliament has reached a stage where it does not look to the outside for technical leadership for the institution.
This is the approach for building sustainable institutions, where focus is on identifying talent, training them and promoting them.
Institutional memory is a sure path to transformation and sustainability. The second issue was the level of camaraderie amongst the leaders from across the political divide.
Despite the levels of public altercations, in the retreat you saw a sense of friendship, unity of purpose and respect for each other. This is a point that many of these leaders make several times.
However, it is important that they display such spirit in public much more. This way they will help the country to build a culture of disagreeing with each other without being disagreeable.
As the National Assembly settles down to work, there are several things that would be important for it to keep in mind. The last Parliament did not fully cultivate a collegial relationship between the Senate and the National Assembly.
Consequently, the distinction between the law-making powers of the National Assembly and the Senate was at times obfuscated. It is important that we recognize that under the Constitutional dispensation, there are three legislative arenas.
The National Assembly, the Senate and County Assemblies. Unfortunately, in the last cycle, both Senate and National Assembly seemed intent on stepping onto each other’s feet much more than sticking to their respective lanes.
One hopes that the experience from the first four and half years will help ensure that there is less of conflicts and more of complementarity in the manner they discharge their roles.
Legislators the world over deal with issues through debate. Several year ago, I remember an attempt to rank contributions of members in the House. One of the people who was involved in that process is now an elected legislator and subject to be assessed too.
As these assessments take place, it is important to realize that legislators participate in House Business both in Plenary and Committees. In fact, with a Presidential system of Government like ours, the bulk of the work by legislators happen in Committees.
Taking into account the fact that to deal with issue affecting them, legislators are expected to first deliberate on issues, it is necessary that every legislator contributes to debate during their time in the National Assembly.
Every legislator should consequently ask themselves, am I participating in debate? For most citizens, our experience with debate was during Primary School.
Here we were expected to understand the topic of debate, strategize on how to pass our point across and respond to our opponents points so as to carry the day.
The basic rules of debate require listening to each other, making your point too before a decision is made. Members should strive to ensure that their voice is heard during debate.
It should not be that after four years of being in the National Assembly, one’s times of contributing to debate is in the single digit.
This would be a huge disservice to not just their constituents but also to their mandate as contribution to debate as part of decision making processes by Parliament.
Legislators also undertake representation. This is the most misunderstood role. There are those who think that this role makes MPs the solution to all the problems of their constituents, ranging from lack of School fees, hospital bills to other basic needs. The key question is whether the approach should be one of service delivery to individual constituents or legislative and policy interventions.
Representation must be about giving voice to the people or interest group a legislator represents. Sovereignty is about the people shaping their destiny.
Since we all cannot do so directly, once we elect leaders we expect that thy will carry our interests and bring them to bear on policy and legislative processes.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
