On Tuesday, November 1, the 13th parliament was marred with disruptions over the appointment of the new clerk of the National Assembly.
This prompted the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula to intervene and even threatened them out of the house.
As such, Wetang’ula who is allied to the Kenya kwanza political formation accused the ODM legislator of turning the parliament into a marketplace.
The Ford Kenya party leader further accused the majority of first-term legislators of shouting instead of debating.
“When I see veterans like John Mbadi keeping silent and struggling to listen and new members who ought to be learning the ropes are doing what Mombasa County MP did is very wrong,
“Everybody has an opinion in every matter, matters are determined through a vote. We will not have a market situation being brought to this house,” Wetang’ula said.
While acknowledging that there were divergent views over the proposal on the appointment of Samuel Njoroge as the new clerk, Wetang’ula thanked nominated MP John Mbadi for his maturity stating that his vote would count at the end.
“I want to recognize the likes of Mbadi who is a veteran. He always had strong opinions but he refrains from them because he knows the power lies in his vote,” he stated.
Cases of legislators engaging in a heated debate and even fighting in Parliament are not new in Kenya.
Last year, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi was forced to suspend the sitting for 15 minutes.
This was after the Members of the 12th Parliament engaged in a fistfight during a debate on the controversial Political Parties (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that saw Sigowet-Soin MP Bernard Koros seriously injured.
“Mr. Speaker, I have been attacked in this house by the master of violence, now I can’t see, I can’t vote. We cannot accept being injured in a national house. This cannot happen here!” Koros lamented.
