Under the current Standing Orders, questions which were in the 10th Parliament directed at ministers are now brought to the committees, meaning that they have to hold sittings every now and then. Ironically, most of the members make technical appearances and only sneak in to sign the attendance book which is used in paying for allowances before checking out without participating in deliberations.
The Budget Committee has the most members, with 51,while all the other 28 committees have 29 members each. The figures exclude technical members who include clerks, hansard editors, drivers and security detail for the members.
The Budget Committee has a major role to play under the new dispensation and is mandated to, among other roles, investigate, inquire into and report on all matters related to coordination, control and monitoring of the national budget, examine the Budget Policy Statement and to examine Bills related to the national budget.
Due to its crowded roles, the committee has to hold many, almost daily, sittings to meet the requirements. So far the committee has had 32 sittings and with each of the 51 members, earning Sh 5,000 per sitting, members have pocketed Sh8,160,000 as allowances.
The committee chairman pockets Sh10,000 per sitting, meaning that Mutava Musyimi has earned Sh320,000. The coastal city of Mombasa has become the regular lair for the committee sittings and many have used exclusive facilities there while compiling final reports of a probe.
The commitee business has become so lucrative that the membership compete to travel to Mombasa for sittings. Recently, the Catering and Health Club travelled to the coastal city for a week to discuss ways and means of improving the members’ diet.
And despite the government having banned state officers from holding meetings outside its government owned facilities, the wasteful members have crafted yet another style of siphoning state resources by holding committee sittings in exclusive beach hotels and resort clubs at the coast. Currently, four of the committees are relaxing in Mombasa, holding sittings while committee rooms at Parliament buildings lie idle.
The extravagance by the members is now raising serious doubts about whether the lawmakers are committed to using public resources prudently. The committees currently at the coast are that on Education, Research and Technology, at Flamingo Beach Hotel for three days.
The Committee on Administration and National Security of Justice is at Pangoni Beach Hotel for three days, Environment and Natural Resources Committee is at Travellers’ Beach Hotel while the CDF committee is at Serena Beach Hotel. The hotels are some of the most expensive in the coast and queries are being raised why they did not go for cheaper ones in Nairobi or Naivasha which offer an equally serene atmosphere.
For instance, Pangoni Beach Hotel where the Administration Committee will stay for three days charges 295 USD (Sh25,665) per day per person. This means that each of the 29 members will spend about Sh75,000 minus allowances. The 29 members will therefore pay a whopping Sh 2,175,000 for just three days for sleeping, minus sitting, taxi and flight.
The meetings could have been held at the precincts of the National Assembly for a day. Members of the Education Committee at the exclusive Flamingo Beach Hotel will pay 225 USD (Sh19,575) per day. With 29 members Sh1,703,025 will go to the hotel and the figure will go higher after the allowances are included. Those at the Travellers Beach Hotel will be charged 250 USD (Sh21,750) per day and since they will be there for three days, the 29 members will pay a total of Sh1,892,250.
The committee at Serena Beach Hotel will pay 268 USD (Sh23,316) per day. For three days the 29 members will part with Sh2,028,492 as hotel bills. The committee sittings have been turned to money minting ventures where the membership organises meetings which, on the face of it, serve no purpose. The Parliamentary Investment Committee (PIC) has had over fifteen sittings in the probe into the payments to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
The equally influential Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) has had over ten sittings investigating the irregular purchases by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the hiring of a jet by the office of the Deputy President.
None of these sittings have achieved anything since the double probes have been derailed. PAC Chairman Ababu Namwamba, while briefing members in one of the sittings, told them they will be required to travel far and wide to countries where the Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits were sourced, including, Canada, India and Ghana.
In Ghana, he told the meeting, members will travel to learn how the electronic voting system worked when the country first applied it in 2010. The extravagance shown by the legislators has also been a concern among themselves and recently leader of Majority Aden Duale hit at his colleagues who make technical appearances.
The committee business has been a contentious issue, with Cabinet and Principal Secretaries complaining that the members have been misusing them by issuing summons to appear whenever they feel like. And true to their word cabinet secretaries have now refused to honour the invites, citing engagements in the ministries.
- The People
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