• Orwoba was accused of six counts of making unsubstantiated claims concerning sexual harassment and disrespecting fellow senators by linking them to corruption.
• The lawmaker snubbed two summons to appear before the committee to defend herself.
Image: SCREENGRAB
Senators on Wednesday started debating the report of the Powers and Privileges Committee that recommended the suspension of nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba for six months for gross misconduct.
The committee tabled the report in the House on August 10 and accused her of six counts of making unsubstantiated claims concerning sexual harassment and disrespecting fellow senators by linking them to corruption.
The lawmaker snubbed two summons to appear before the committee to defend herself.
Noting the gravity of the charges and conduct of the senator, the Powers and Privileges Committee recommended her suspension from the House for the remainder of the second session of the 13th Parliament, this being February.
The committee also recommended that the senator be denied access to the precincts of Parliament during the period during which time she would be denied the use or enjoyment of any unspecified facilities provided to Members of Parliament.
So far, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and his Vihiga counterpart Godfrey Osotsi supported the report while Nominated Senator Karen Nyamu and Bungoma's David Wakoli opposed it.
"Senator Gloria having made those allegations, she had a responsibility to substantiate those allegations before the committee, she elected not to appear before that committee or to tender any evidence," Sifuna said.
"Those allegations remain unsubstantiated and therefore the punishment that has been proposed by the committee is something that I'm willing to support and I hereby support."
Osotsi said all Gloria needs to do is to apologise to the House and her apology will be accepted.
"But we cannot stop discussing the conduct of a member just because we fear some issues," he said.
Osotsi spoke after Nyamu attempted to play the gender card by saying Orwoba was being punished because she was a woman while male MPs have previously gotten away with graver misdemeanours.
"I have seen my colleague Senator Sifuna address the Speaker and tell the Speaker shame on you to his face. Is it because Senator Gloria is a woman that she has to go through this punitive," she said.
Sifuna interjected on a point of order and asked Senator Nyamu to restrict herself to the contents of the report.
"It is a matter of records in this House, I have been punished severely for every crime that I have ever committed on this floor so that nobody can bring that into this particular discussion. I have never been let scot-free not because of my sex or anything," he said.
Nyamu said she supports order in the House but it's too harsh to suspend a member for six months.
She said Senator Orobwa probably had a legitimate complaint but she failed to express it in the right way, a point that Wakoli supported.
"Has this happened because this is a woman or why has it happened Hon Speaker? As a father of girls, I stand to oppose," he said.
Senator Azena accused her male counterparts of advancing chauvinism saying some acts of sexual abuse cannot be substantiated as their very nature cannot be captured in the form of evidence.
"We can not use hammers or guns to deal with very small problems," she said.
Nominated Senator Miraj Abdillahi Abdulrahman concurred with the point and opposed the report.
"There's no way a woman can provide evidence of sexual advances. If I leave this House today and a man winks at me, how will I provide evidence for that?" she posed.
Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah said the report is not a gender issue.
"You could remove Orwoba's name and replace it with Sifuna and the report will still stand," he said.
“From where I stand, the report is detailed. Maybe we should discuss the punishment given without putting on the gender lens. The gender lens has been wielded to destroy the boy child. Let no one think that this world belongs to women; it belongs to all of us."
Omtatah supported the report but said he found the punishment proffered too draconian and asked that the House considers amendments for a shorter suspension period and Orobwa asked to apologise.
“Let’s not punish to kill, let’s punish to correct,” he said.
Debate is still ongoing.