National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale. [Photo/The-star.co.ke]
The current stalemate over the disciplinary action against four of Jubilee members falls squarely under the authority of the ruling party, Majority Leader Aden Duale has said.
Lodged a scathing response to the ongoing debate over recent recalling of four Jubilee MPs from National Assembly committees, Duale explained that they were within the confines of the law in their recent decision.
The disgruntled MPs filed a suit in court challenging the decision of Jubilee Party to discharge them of the said leadership roles leading to issuance of a stay order from Justice John Mativo on Wednesday.
The court ordered the MPs (Alfred Keter and Tiren) to continue serving as chairpersons of the Labour and Social Welfare and the Agriculture House Committees.
It is said the rebelling MPs were elected against President Uhuru Kenyatta’s preferred nominees Ali Wario of Bura and Mandera East’s Adan Ali.
Aden Duale now enumerates nine options in his hands to validate his decision as the Majority Leader in the National Assembly over the matter.
He said on Thursday that the de-whipping of the affected members had a strong legal basis in respect to the constitution and the House’s standing orders.
The Garissa Township MP stated that the determination of whether to discharge any member from a committee lies only with the party that sponsored him or her-in this case the Jubilee Party.
“It is therefore within the internal affairs of a party to determine whether or not to de-whip a member,” he noted.
Duale added: “Pursuant to standing order 173, it is also the parliamentary party that sponsored a Member of Parliament that has the mandate to nominate a member to a committee. It is this determination that the Committee on Selection relies on selecting members to committees.”
The National Assembly Majority Leader explained that standing order 176 gives leeway for a parliamentary party to discharge a member from a committee. He said a parliamentary party that sponsors an MP to a committee also has jurisdiction to discharge a member from a committee based on this standing order.
In his Thursday statement, Duale stated that the standing order 176 further gives Jubilee party whip Benjamin Washiali to give notice in writing to speaker Justin Muturi of the intention to discharge any MP from the committee after which the speaker in a period of three days of receipt of the notice informs the affected representative.
“The standing order further provides that the parliamentary party whip of the member is then required to give notice in writing to the speaker of the intention to discharge the member from the committee. The speaker is then required, within three days of receipt of the notice, to inform the member,” Duale conveyed.
Upon notification, the statement said the affected MP stands liquidated from the committee duties.
If aggrieved by the decision of his party, Duale added, the affected MP may opt to have the matter resolved by the Political Parties Tribunal.
Duale defended Jubilee party’s recent move to be one that aims at upholding party discipline.
Be it as it may, Duale hinted that Jubilee may explore other options within reach including reconstituting its committees.
“This is an inherent right recognised for all parliamentary parties in the National Assembly standing orders. The party will explore all options in order to ensure regional balance and inclusiveness is observed in the constitution of committees,” he affirmed.
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