President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on parliament to prioritise legislation that supports the attainment of the Government’s Big 4 development agenda. “There are certain bills out there that we really need to equally fast track. And some of them are either stuck in the National Assembly or stuck in the Senate or stuck in-between with a push and pull between the two parties. “If there’s something that’s going to prevent us from achieving that Big 4 Agenda, it will be these things (bills) which are important that we iron out so that we can actually get to our destination within the time period that we have all identified.
That should be our key objective,” the President said. The Head of State spoke Saturday afternoon at State House, Nairobi during a meeting with the entire leadership of Kenya’s parliament. The meeting was convened to introduce the Head of State to new house and committee leaders of both senate and national assembly following the recent reorganization of the committees.
The President hailed the composition of the new parliamentary structure where opposition members have been incorporated into house and committee leadership positions as indicative of the desired new Kenya. “I believe this is the first true session of the leadership of Parliament that is truly reflective of the way in which we want our country to go.
We are not sitting here as Jubilee, as ODM, as Ford Kenya, as KANU, as Wiper, as ANC, we are actually sitting here as the leadership of Kenya discussing matters pertaining to the wellbeing of our people and to the future of our nation. “And that is something that gives me immense pleasure and delight because I really believe that through this, I am beginning to see the new beginnings of the kind of Kenya that we want to see,” the President said. The Head of State encouraged parliamentarians to seek accurate information on the various national government initiatives saying uninformed political pronouncements on programs such as Huduma Namba were misleading the public.
At the same time, the President urged politicians to tame their ambitions so as to allow the Government to leverage on existing tranquility occasioned by the handshake between him and opposition leader Raila Odinga to develop the country. “Why can’t we just tame our ambitions and take advantage of this rare situation, to say, those things that we disagree on we just put them aside, those things that we agree on, we shall deliver for our people and for our country,” the Head of State rallied the legislators.
Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka thanked the Head of State for intervening in the Senate revenue sharing stalemate and assured the President of Senate’s commitment to supporting the Government’s legislative agenda. “On behalf of the Senate, I want to also take this opportunity to thank you because for about three months, we were famous for adjournments on the formula issue. It took your intervention, Your Excellency to bring that stalemate to an end,” Speaker Lusaka said.
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi called for constant engagement between the executive and the legislature, and proposed the creation of liason office in each ministry. Senate Majority and Minority Leaders Samuel Poghisio and James Orengo as well as their National Assembly counterparts Amos Kimunya and John Mbadi also spoke at the meeting. Senator Poghisio urged the President to convene regular consultations with Parliament’s leadership while his National Assembly counterpart Amos Kimunya introduced the new leaders to the Head of State.
Senator Orengo assured the Head of State that both the opposition and the ruling party were united in pushing the Government’s agenda in Parliament, a message that was restated by his National Assembly counterpart John Mbadi.
