Africa-Press – Kenya. Garissa Town MP-elect Aden Duale has urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to gazette the date of the first sitting of the 13th Parliament.
While insinuating that Uhuru could deliberately be delaying the gazettement, the former majority leader said this runs the risk of creating a constitutional crisis.
“As we speak now, there is no Parliament in place. The new Members-Elect cannot perform the functions of Parliament until they are sworn-in in accordance with the requirements of Article 74 of the Constitution,” Duale said in a statement on Thursday.
Article 126 (2) of the Constitution requires the President to declare via a gazette notice the date for the first sitting of the new House within 30 days after elections.
The gazettement is critical to the business of the House since it’s at the first sitting that MPs-elect are sworn-in and the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker undertaken.
Duale noted that there are only seven days to go before the new parliament is constitutionally supposed to hold its first sitting. The timeline expires next week on Thursday.
“Worse still is that the 7-day period which is remaining for the President to Gazette the first sitting of Parliament is even shorter noting Parliament ordinarily sits ONLY on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.”
Duale noted that it’s been 23 days since MPs were elected but there’s yet to be a declaration on when the House will convene its first sitting.
He said the term of the 12th Parliament ended at midnight on August 9, 2022, by dint of the general election.
“Is the delay a decoy to cripple the Legislature from ever taking off and hence create a constitutional quagmire? Is there an attempt to create a constitutional crisis by ensuring that Parliament is not in place?”Duale posed.
After the March 4, 2013 elections, the late President Mwai Kibaki gazetted the date of the first sitting of the 11th Parliament within two weeks after the election.
In 2017, Uhuru gazetted the first sitting of Parliament and by the end of August, members had been sworn-in.
“This is hence the first time we have crossed over September without a Parliament! What is therefore cooking?” Duale asked.
Uhuru has maintained a low profile since the disputed August 9, 2022 polls and has never commented on the election outcome.
It was only on Thursday that he appeared in public for the first time when he was spotted walking on the streets of Mombasa.
He was accompanied by Mombasa governor-elect Abdulswamad Nassir and his predecessor Hassan Joho, among other leaders.
Uhuru did not make an address but interacted freely with the public.
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