May 17, 2013 BY JERRY OKUNGU, Media Consultant.It is only in Kenya where Parliament passes laws and disowns them a few months later. At best the law makers make laws for other Kenyans as long as such laws do not affect their lives.
It is only in Kenya where the constitution sets up a commission to regulate salaries and remuneration for state officers and public servants, Parliament endorses it but immediately the commission reduces MPs’ salaries and those of other state officers, MPs threaten to disband the commission.
It is only in Kenya where when voters oppose MPs’ unrealistic and untenable salaries, the legislators turn around and insult them. And like one voter correctly put it, our MPs are like daring robbers who walk into your house, tell you they have come to rob you in the full glare of your wife and children knowing that you can do nothing to stop them. Their contempt for the electorate knows no bounds.
After Kenyans talked and talked opposing MPs’ clamor for higher salaries to be retained at pre 2013 levels, they realised that their honorable legislators had switched off and were bent on disbanding the Salaries and Remuneration Commission so that they could fix their salaries at will.
The citizens then organised a protest of an unusual kind. On Tuesday morning, Kenyans invaded and occupied the precincts of Parliament for several hours. And they did it in style. They brought a lorry load of pigs and piglets together with the filthy stuff that pigs normally feed on.
They released the pigs and their delicacies in front of Parliament as they waved placards calling MPs all sorts of names. One placard reminded MPs that Parliament is a service institution and not the business centre they are turning it into.
And the protesters did not stop there. They gave each pig a name and engraved the names of leading MPs at the forefront of the clamor for more pay such that as the pigs ravaged their meal in front of the August House, TV cameras beamed the images across the world.
However, when MPs resumed their sitting in the afternoon, very few of them referred to the embarrassing event. Only the Leader of the Majority complained that being equated to a pig was unfair. He would have preferred to be compared to a cow or a camel. The point he missed was that, the pigs were supposed to send a message that their greed had reached the level of pigs - the most despised animal class in human history.
As the citizens were taking their MPs to task on their wayward ways, a group of 16 Kenyans who had been vetted by the appointments committee were waiting to be confirmed or rejected by the House in the afternoon.
The three day vetting, broadcast live to the whole nation, was as controversial as the list itself. However, because it was a public hearing, the public was given a chance to assess the suitability of each candidate. When it was over, Kenyans had made up their minds about which candidates were qualified and which ones were not. Seven of the candidates had integrity issues while one was fantastic on paper but was a disaster in oral communication. She showed total lack of understanding of issues affecting the East African Community Affairs, Tourism and Trade – the docket for which she was nominated.
When the committee report was tabled on the floor of the House, the very nominee that had been rejected by the appointments committee became the subject of a ridiculous debate. Women MPs rallied behind her on account of gender. MPs from her ethnic community and region joined in the fray. And finally the government majority backed her nomination simply because she had been nominated by the President and Deputy President.
As the debate progressed, issues of integrity, competence and suitability were tossed through the window. The nominees were all approved despite their faults.
The handling of the first group of nominees proved one thing; that the vetting is more of a rubber stamp than anything else. If it was a serious process, at least three of the nominees would not have gone through.
One other thing – the Speaker of the National Assembly lacked control of the debate. He allowed hecklers to drown the arguments advanced by voices of reason. The Majority Leader repeatedly confessed that he was a proud sycophant of a sitting President as opposed to minority MPs who he called sycophants of those who lost presidential elections.
With the salaries of MPs still unresolved, Kenyans should brace themselves for more drama from the civil society led street demonstrations.
Jerryokungu@gmail.com
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