NASA members during a past event. Photo/the-star.co.ke
Opposition National Super Alliance will have a greater influence on three Parliament Committees following amendments that barred the ruling party from holding deputy chair positions.
NASA, a coalition of five political parties will head the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Public Investments Committee (PIC) and the Committee on Implementation when the twelfth Parliament opens next week.
Parliament rules which were revised before dissolution of the eleventh Parliament direct that PAC, PIC and Committee on Implementation chairpersons and deputy chairpersons be drawn from political parties outside government. This implies NASA will control three out of the 28 Committees.
In the eleventh Parliament, PAC and PIC chairpersons were drawn from the opposition but their deputies came from the ruling party. Committee on Implementation was chaired by Jubilee.
Independent candidates who will sit in the Parliament will produce the chairperson of the newly created Special Funds Accounts Committee (SFAC), which will review the accounts of entities like Women Enterprise and Youth Enterprise Fund.
NASA, which will form the minority party in the National Assembly, will fight it out with Jubilee for the control of the remaining 25 committees.