Concerns have emerged that several lawmakers in the bicameral Parliament are not attending sessions, despite being some of the highest paid in the world.
Both Houses have been hit by unprecedented quorum hitches that in most cases delaying crucial businesses as members are whipped.
This week, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei was forced to order the quorum bell to be rung on two consecutive days.
The House could not manage the minimum 50 out of the 346 members on Wednesday and Thursday.
The National Assembly has 349 members but two seats and one nomination slot are currently vacant.
The lawmakers had just resumed after a week’s recess on Tuesday following the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, which witnessed a full House every day.
The development that threatens to derail important business has caught the attention of the leadership led by Speaker Moses Wetang’ula.
During a recent leadership retreat in Naivasha, Wetang’ula fired a warning at MPs, especially committee chairpersons fond of skipping sittings.
He warned such leaders risked losing their places. Wetang’ula emphasised the importance of consistent attendance, particularly for those entrusted with leading the legislature’s committees.
“As chairpersons and vice chairpersons of committees, you hold positions of privilege. You receive additional compensation and enjoy travel privileges because you are leaders. The least you can do in re- turn is to consistently attend House sessions,” Wetang’ula said.
In the House on Wednesday, Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah sounded another warning, saying the leadership would not hesitate to remove committee chairpersons and vice chairpersons who did not have time for House sittings.
According to the House leadership, committee chairpersons and their deputies are enough to attain the 50-member quorum needed to transact business.
“This House has no fewer than 60 committee leaders. We only need 50 members to conduct business. If we include the broader leadership, we have over 70,” Ichung’wah said.
Also put on notice are lawmakers fond of skipping the House plenary, occasioning unprecedented quorum hitches.
Since the National Assembly recorded a full house during the impeachment of Gachagua, it has been a struggle to attain the quorum to transact business.
On Thursday, Deputy Speaker Shollei directed the quorum bell to be rung for five minutes.
The previous day the bell was rung for 10 minutes. The warnings come after what is now becoming a pattern, where MPs neglect their duties by absenting themselves from crucial sessions.
Among the main roles of the MPs are debating and decision-making on pressing national issues.
On Wednesday, the lawmakers were to discuss a motion by Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris proposing the amalgamation of all the bursary schemes to ensure free basic education.
“We were in the leadership conference last week, chaired by the Speaker and the Parliamentary Service Commission, where members expressed concerns over attendance, particularly of chairpersons and vice chairpersons,” Ichung’wah said.
The Kikuyu MP warned the committee leaders of a looming “purge” for absenteeism.
“If you’re a chairperson or vice chairperson, take your role seriously. Otherwise, there are 280 other members ready to take on these responsibilities,” he said.
“There’s no reason for the Speaker to be left waiting for quorum while members are absent, especially those responsible for leading discussions and responding to questions."
Ichung’wah underscored the importance of attending House sessions, citing cases where some members who had questions were a no-show.
Quorum hitches are also common in the Senate, where the Speaker is forced to order for the quorum bell to be rung for several minutes to raise the requisite numbers.
For instance, in its first sitting immediately after the impeachment of Gachagua, the House lacked a quorum.
Speaker Amason Kingi was forced to instruct orderlies to ring the bell for 10 minutes to allow members access the chamber to kickstart the House business.
This was unlike the immediate previous sitting, where all the 67 senators attended the session – either physically or online – during Gachagua’s impeachment.
The development comes even as a schedule of the House in-tray shows several businesses affecting ordinary Kenyans including bills, motions and statements.
Currently, 58 bills are pending in the Senate out of which 40 are at the Second Reading stage while 18 are at the Committee of the Whole House stage.
Some 30 motions, 25 petitions and 430 statements are pending. The frequent lack of quorum in both Houses has elicited questions on whether taxpayers are getting value for money as it takes millions every month to maintain the legislators.
MPs are entitled to a monthly salary of Sh725,502 inclusive of Sh435,301 basic salary and a house allowance of Sh150,000.
The pay goes up for the speakers who earn Sh1.18 million, consisting of Sh711,196 basic pay and Sh250,000 in house allowance.
Deputy speakers of both houses take home Sh948,261, broken down to Sh568,957 basic pay and an enhanced house allowance of Sh200,000.
Majority and minority leaders are paid a monthly salary of Sh784,768.
The leadership - speakers, majority and minority leaders and whips - are entitled to a monthly special duty allowance of up to Sh150,000, depending on seniority.
MPs also get additional pay pegged on the number of times they attend committee sittings.
Committee members pocket Sh7,500 for every sitting, capped at Sh120,000 per month.
Chairpersons of committees and their deputies have enhanced allowances of Sh15,000 per sitting to Sh240,000 and Sh12,000 per sitting, respectively, to a maximum of Sh192,000 per month.
Also ballooning the lawmaker’s take-home pay are the millions they receive for mileage claims, paid every month.
MPs are presumed to travel every weekend to their constituencies even though that is not always the case.
This is not the first time the issue of absentee MPs is raising concern.
In the last Parliament, at least 261 National Assembly members skipped over 50 sittings. Lawmakers are by law required to notify the Speaker of any planned absence from sittings and should be punished if they skip eight sittings.
The previous law provided for consecutive sittings but the same is presently based on a calendar year, which runs from February to December.
In this case, the sittings are calculated for the entire session – almost a year.
Among the punishments is that a member loses his seat.
Notable names mentioned among the absentees included former Rongai MP Raymond Moi and his Emgwen counterpart Alex Kosgey, having missed 181 sittings altogether.
Records show the members did not lose their seats due to poor record-keeping in Parliament.
Documents tabled during an induction meeting for the current MPs revealed that Moi skipped 102 sittings while Kosgey skipped 79 sittings.
The report showed the two may
have survived because Parliament
was still operating under an analogue record system.
