Azimio senators snub inaugural CSs question time in House

The inaugural question time for Cabinet Secretaries in the Senate suffered a setback after opposition senators snubbed the session where three CSs were questioned.

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki, his Land and Housing counterpart Zacharia Njeru and Mining and Blue Economy’s Salim Mvurya took questions directly from lawmakers in the plenary sitting.

However, the Wednesday morning sitting was given a wide berth by opposition senators who have questioned the legality and challenged in court the CSs’ appearance.

“We have filed a case in court challenging the constitutionality of the appearances,” Deputy Minority leader Enoch Wambua (Wiper) told the Star.

The lawmaker said they were waiting for the hearing and determination of the case to decide whether they will attend the sittings or not.

Deputy Minority Whip Edwin Sifuna also maintained that the minority senators could not attend the meeting when they were challenging its legality.

Only Fatuma Dullo (Isiolo), Abdul Haji (Garissa) and Margret Kamar (nominated) attended the session from the minority side.

At one point, two Wiper senators Dan Maanzo (Makeuni) and Agnes Kavindu (Machakos) walked into the chamber but Maanzo walked out after short while.

Last month, Kenya Kwanza senators pushed through amendments to the Standing Orders despite aggressive opposition by the Azimio lawmakers.

The Azimio senators had accused their counterparts of attempting to amend the Constitution through the Standing Orders to allow the CSs to answer questions directly from members in the plenary.

They argued the Constitution only allows the CSs to appear before various House committees but not at the plenary sitting.

“It is totally against the basic structure doctrine of the Kenyan Constitution. Amending article 153-3 of the Kenyan Constitution using Standing Orders. Totally absurd,” Minority Whip Ledama Olekina said.

The article provides that a Cabinet Secretary shall attend before a committee of the National Assembly, or the Senate, when required by the committee, and answer any question concerning a matter for which the Cabinet Secretary is responsible.

Yesterday, CS Kindiki was questioned on the security situation in the volatile North Rift where bandits have been raiding homes, killing people and stealing livestock.

The CS told the senators that during the ongoing police and military operation in the troubled counties bandits have been flushed out from their hideouts.

“All these places, the caves, gorges and ravines, all others that were being used as hideouts for bandits have been cleared and dominated by security forces,” he said.

The CS said the recent cases of bandit attacks are as a result of a few bandits who mixed up with members of the public after the government issued a 24-hour notice to vacate certain places that were considered hideouts.

“After the 24-hour order for the public to leave these dangerous areas, unintended and unaccepted criminals took the notice to mix with other members of the public,” he said.

Kindiki revealed that the state was tightening the noose on a number of politicians and top commanders facilitating banditry.

He said the government has identified high-profile politicians at different levels who are aiding banditry.

 The CS said intelligence collected so far points to a well-coordinated enterprise involving several politicians and influential individuals financing banditry.

"We have in our radar a number of politicians of different cadre whose actions have been linked to the support and funding of the banditry," he said.

“We have evidence which we are at the tail end and soon we expect high profile arraignments of politicians and bandit commanders,” the CS said.

“We want to build a strong case that will be successful in court,” he added.

Kindiki said that the government has developed a martial plan to reconstruct the region and initiate peace talks to restore lasting peace there.

The government has rolled out a national titling programme that will see all parcels belonging to the public titled.

CS Njeru said the initiative seeks to protect public institutions and lands from grabbing by unscrupulous people.

“The government is in the process of securing all public land in the country. We started with our learning institutions,” Njeru said.

“This was prompted by grabbing that has been rampant with our public schools”’ he said.

The CS was responding to question by Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago who sought to know the ministry's plans to title public properties.

During the sitting, National Land Commission came under fire after the CS told the lawmakers it provided him with half-baked information with regards to compensation for a project in Isiolo.

Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo questioned the CS to state the reasons for the disparity in compensation between residents of Nuno Modogashe and Isiolo affected by the Africa Gateway Project.

Njeru said compensation for state project is a function of NLC, thus he relied on the commission for answers. However, he stated the response he got from the commission was not satisfactory.

Speaker Amason Kingi ordered the House’s Lands Committee to summon the management of the commission to provide adequate response.

CS Mvurya revealed that the government will lift the moratorium on the issuance of mineral mining rights. This followed a question by Dullo.