Interior CS Kithure Kindiki will on Wednesday be the first Cabinet Secretary to appear before the House and respond to members’ questions under the amended Standing Orders.
Kindiki will be responding directly to MPs’ questions in a return to the old tradition where ministers - who were picked among legislators - were responding to members’ question on the floor of the House.
In the Senate, Speaker Amason Kingi asked the senators to acquaint themselves with amended Standing Orders in readiness for the appearance of the CSs before the plenary.
He asked the lawmakers to familiarise themselves with the procedures for asking questions to CSs.
The CSs will be appearing in the plenary to answer questions from members every Wednesday.
"In line with the Resolution of the Senate when considering the amendments to the Senate Standing Orders, I would like to remind senators that the effective date of the procedure for questions is today, Tuesday, April 11, 2023," the Speaker said.
The system of having CSs appearing in the plenary was abolished when the 2010 Constitution came into force. The new law also locked out MPs from the Cabinet.
Kindiki will be fielding questions from a designated place adjacent to the public servants bench on the right of the Speaker, the same place used by Treasury CS while presenting budget highlights.
According to the National Assembly’s Wednesday Order Paper, Kindiki will respond to three questions from Martha Wangari (Gilgil), Abdul Haro (Mandera South) and Joseph Gitari (Kirinyaga Central).
“It is notified that, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 42A(6B), the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration will respond to the following questions in plenary on Wednesday (afternoon), April 12, 2023,” the Order Paper reads.
The Gilgil lawmaker had sought a statement on the shortage of birth registration materials (also known as B1 forms) in health facilities across the country, while Haro had raised questions about the establishment of civil registration centres in every subcounty in the country.
Kirinyaga Central MP will be asking the CS about the outstanding warrants of arrests against certain individuals as well as emergence of criminal groups affiliated to terror groups in the country.
Members who ask questions will be allowed a maximum of two follow-up questions relevant to the original question while other MPs will get an opportunity to raise one question to the CS.
MPs earlier last month adopted a report by the Committee on Procedure and House Rules that amended Standing Order 25A to allow a Cabinet Secretary to expound on government policy, reply to questions and provide reports concerning matters under their dockets.
In the new arrangement, Cabinet secretaries will be appearing on Wednesday afternoons for three hours after the adoption of amendments to Standing Order 40.
But in a new directive, the House will extend sittings up to 9pm on Wednesdays to allow ample time for the CSs to respond to all the questions raised by members.
“You may have noticed that the amendment to Standing Order 40(3A) gives priority to Questions and Reports by Cabinet secretaries every Wednesday afternoon for a period not exceeding three hours,” House Speaker Moses Wetang’ula said last month.
Wetang'ula also ruled that Chief Administrative Secretaries will not be entertained on the floor of the House to respond to MPs’ questions.
The Speaker directed that Cabinet secretaries must appear in person, warning against delegating the constitutional mandate.
Wetang’ula however left it to committee chairpersons to decide whether they will allow CASs to appear before them on behalf of the Cabinet secretaries.
