Focus has now shifted to parliamentary leadership as Kenyans feel the pinch of the eight per cent value added tax (VAT) on fuel approved by the National Assembly and assented to by the President yesterday.
Speaker Justin Muturi dismissed impeachment threats leveled against him as fiction of the imagination of “excited malcontents.” Daring them, he reminded the MPs that following the review of Standing Orders, the Speaker was no longer exposed.
“They lacked strategy and they now want to roll it over on me. They have no clue. You need to tell them that to veto the President’s memo is like changing the Constitution. Noise is not enough,” he said. “I am not moved by the jabs. I am just waiting for them to make good their threat,” he dared. Muturi spoke as tales of botched procedures, faulty electronic system, snatched voting cards and locked up members continued to emerge.
Besides Leader of Majority Aden Duale (Garissa Township), Leader of Minority John Mbadi (Suba South) and Minority Whip Junet Mohammed (Suna East), Muturi has been identified by the disgruntled MPs to carry the burden of the eight per cent VAT. “Muturi is public enemy number one, followed by Duale, Mbadi, Mohammed and the committee chairs. They are bad than the grave,” James Lomenen (Turkana South) fumed. “Muturi, in this matter, you are not a patriot. We are going to take the necessary measures to address the issue and protect wananchi,” Laikipia Woman Representative Catherine Warunguru added.
Ironically, when Muturi allowed them to express the reservations in the matter the House business was conducted by Hon Soipan Tuya, they had shouted “Muturi for President”. But their praise was short-lived, especially when he sided with Tuya. Duale also downplayed the threats, and even dared the irked MPs to make them good. “We should hold to account anybody who makes these threats,” he threw back the jibes.
Dismissing them as hecklers, the leader of majority said his fate can only be determined by the party whose interests he was protecting in a sitting chaired by the party leader. He said parliamentary systems malfunctioned, showing the number of MPs present as 352, instead of 215. “There was a hitch in the system,” he said. Budget and Appropriation Committee Chairman Kimani Ichung’wa also dismissed claims that some MPs were locked up in the toilets to prevent them from voting or that others left the plenary to deny members the requisite number.