How MPs worked hard to deserve their 'voting machine' reputation

The acrimonious fallout between Members of Parliament and President William Ruto has heralded the beginning of the end of the once blossoming dalliance between the Legislature and the Executive.

And while MPs have for years been criticised by the electorate for reducing their oversight roles to doing the Executive’s bidding, their recent fightback against bribery and corruption allegations by the Head of State only tells of a regret for their actions, through which they have managed to water down checks on the Executive.

The match that lit the powder barrel came during the first-ever Parliamentary Group meeting that brought together the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance members and MPs from the Orange Democratic party (ODM). There, Ruto told of corruption at the National Assembly, yet again alluding to “welfare chairpersons in committees”, who have been using unconventional means to obtain money while at the Senate, he referred to it as ‘soko huru’, a free market where governors appear to respond to queries and have to part with some monies.

“Let me ask you, MPs seated here. Do you, for example, know that a few members of your committee collected Sh10 million so that you could pass that law on anti-money laundering? Did you get the money? Yes, there are people who are destroying the credibility of Parliament,” Ruto said.

What has followed has been a revolt from Parliament, the very institution that Ruto has relied on to bulldoze his often criticised policies.

“Ruto gave us the Finance Bill (2024); it was never popular, but we passed it for him. He gave us the Housing Levy, and we passed it for him. He asked us to pass the SHA for him, and we passed it,” said Ugenya MP David Ochieng during the National Assembly’s sitting on Tuesday.

It was, however, Tetu MP Geoffery Wandeto’s sentiments that lifted the lid on Ruto’s stranglehold of Parliament and the MPs’ newfound resolve to sever ties.

“There are things that we must stop. First of all, we have an unholy dalliance with the Executive. This House must stop being a choir of the Executive,” he said.

And now, a peel back of the events of the last two years, since President Ruto took the reins, reveals instances where the MPs have allowed the Executive’s agenda to sail through with muted resistance and resuscitated debate of the House being a “voting machine”.

Controversial laws such as the Finance Bill 2023, now an Act, which birthed the Housing Levy and sought to amend the laws relating to various taxes and duties to expand the tax base to raise Sh3.6 trillion in revenue for the 2023/24 financial year, have enjoyed a smooth sailing in Parliament. This was despite the majority of stakeholders opposing the Bill owing to its hefty taxes.

And in the subsequent financial year, the Finance Bill 2024 also got the nod from the National Assembly.

Nationwide protests

The result was nationwide anti-government protests spearheaded by the youthful Gen–Z protestors who at one point lay siege on Parliament and engaged in weekly countrywide demonstrations.

The voting-machine nature of Parliament has also been manifested on numerous occasions, such as during the debate on the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) Act, which replaced the National Health Insurance Fund.

Amendments by Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya were shot down as soon as they were proposed. Such included an amendment by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna to limit contributions to the new health insurance scheme to Sh2,000 and have NHIF employees retain their jobs in the new programme.

This was also the case during the consideration of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2022, that sought to tinker with the composition of the Selection Panel that spearheads the recruitment of commissioners at IEBC.

The Bill that proposed a reduction of numbers allocated to the Parliamentary Service Commission in the selection panel from four to two and a further change allowing the Political Parties Liaison Committee, the Law Society of Kenya and the Public Service Commission to nominate one member each to the panel also had its way.

Other Bills that sailed through with muted resistance by the broad-based MPs include the Division of Revenue Bill, 2023 and the Supplementary Appropriation Bill, 2023, which provided a legal framework for the issuance of an estimated Sh200.5 billion out of the Consolidated Fund for service delivery.

Governance expert Tom Mboya now avers that Ruto’s grip on Parliament has been of little or no benefit to Kenyans, and has reduced Parliament to an appendage of the Executive: doing his bidding regardless of the views of Kenyans, or the effect on the country.

“The President has placed a premium on politics, rather than the extremely difficult situation the country is now in. For political expediency, he has co-opted members of the minority ranks into government for the purpose of shoring up his delicate position following the Gen Z protests. In so doing, he may have bought himself a little time, but has still failed to address the elephant in the room. Even a de-fanged and compliant parliament may not help much in the medium to long term,” Mboya says.