The Nairobi county assembly is planning to purchase a new mace worth millions.
According to the Annual Development Plan 2023-2024, it will cost taxpayers Sh30 million to acquire 18-carat gold-plated mace.
The tender has already been advertised with the closing date being February 12, 2024.
However, Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai has come out to criticise the plan.
The MCA questioned why the county was prioritising the mace at the expense of other urgent development matters.
But what exactly is this Mace?
According to the National Assembly website, the ceremonial Mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal, wood or other materials, carried by a Mace-bearer or placed before a sovereign or other high official; in civic ceremonies or before a revered gathering to symbolize authority.
Significance of the Mace
The Mace enhances the richness of parliamentary tradition and symbolizes the legislature's authority in which it is displayed and utilized.
In this case, the mase is symbolic at the National Assembly, Senate, and all 47 county assemblies.
No formal business can be transacted in the absence of the Mace.
It is regarded as a symbol of the authority and dignity of the House as well as the Speaker presiding over the House.
The Mace is an essential part of Parliamentary regalia as it gives credence and legality to the assembly of MCAs, MPs and Senators.
The Serjeant-at-Arms are the custodians of the Mace.
The Serjeant carries the Mace on his or her shoulder when leading the Speaker's Procession into the House each day and on ceremonial occasions involving the Speaker.
Ceremonial occasions in which the Serjeant plays a prominent role include the opening of each term of Parliament by the President, the procession of the Speakers and Members to the Chamber during joint sittings of the National Assembly and the Senate including during the President's speech on the opening of a new Parliament.
Offences relating to the Mace include attempting to or removing the Mace from its place in the Chamber during a Sitting of the House, as well as disrupting the Speaker's Procession.
These offences are considered to be grossly disorderly conduct and attract specified sanctions stipulated in the National Assembly Standing Orders.
Historic details
The earliest ceremonial Maces were practical weapons intended to protect the king's person, borne by the Serjeant-at-Arms, a royal bodyguard established in France by Philip II, and in England probably by Richard I.
By the 14th Century, these Serjeants' Maces had started to become increasingly decorative, encased in precious metals.
The Mace as a real weapon went out of use with the disappearance of heavy armour.
The history of the civic Mace (carried by the Serjeant-at-Arms) began around the middle of the 13th Century.
The Mace as used in the National Assembly of Kenya
In 1958, the Speaker of the Legislative Council, Cavendish Bentick, received the Mace from the crown Prince.
Parliament has used the Mace as part of its legislative undertakings since then.
In independent Kenya, two Maces were utilized by the bicameral House from 1963 to 1966, after which only one was used until 2013 when the new Constitution reinstated the Senate.
Upon the attainment of Independence, former President late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta officially brought the Maces to Parliament on December 14, 1964, during the second session of the First Parliament, and handed them to the two Speakers- Sir Humphrey Slade, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Timothy Chokwe, Speaker of the Senate, to symbolize the Constitutional authority of the two Houses derived from Kenyans.
Since then the Mace has been part and parcel of Parliamentary business in the country.
