Garissa Township Member of Parliament Aden Duale during a past event. He said vetting of Cabinet nominees will go on despite NASA boycott. [Photo/nation.co.ke]
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has dismissed threats by the National Super Alliance (NASA) MPs who have vowed not to participate in the vetting of the Cabinet nominees.
The opposition legislators, through the Leader of Minority John Mbadi, said they will boycott the exercise even as President Uhuru Kenyatta works to constitute his Cabinet.
Speaking at Parliament Buildings on Wednesday, Mbadi said NASA does not recognise Uhuru as President and cannot, therefore, sit to vet his nominees.
"I wrote to the Speaker this morning reiterating our position of not participating in the vetting. Our position as the opposition remains that we don’t recognise President Kenyatta," said Mbadi.
But Duale, who is also the Garissa Township MP, downplayed the absence of Nasa MPs saying the exercise would go on as planned.
"We will do our work as per the Constitution. It is the mandate of Parliament to vet nominees forwarded by the President and that is what exactly we will do," Duale said.
Echoing same sentiments, Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi said despite the opposition refusing to attend the vetting sessions, Jubilee members were competent enough to conduct them.
"I want to assure the public that even if Nasa members will not attend, we will do our work competently and ask the hard questions that need to be asked,” Muturi said, as quoted by the Nation.
The vetting process kicks off on Thursday, next week.