Today's Headlines
- Drivers Abandon Vehicles to Protest Pay
- ECK Was Pressured to Release Results
- KWS Intercepts Snakes Cargo for Export
- Raila Coming Next Month
- Country's Juniors League Prepare for Nairobi Tourney
- Harassment at Borders Irks Odinga
- Kenyan Minister Accuses UPDF of Killing Pastoralists
- Saitoti Says Violence Will Never Return
- Victims of Conflict With Wildlife to Receive Sh1 Million
- Kenyans Praised for Quick End to Violence
- Inmates Tell of Deaths in Prison
- MPs Approve Proposal to Set Aside Prime Minister's Question Time
- Ban Violators Face Axe, Warns Council
- Security Beefed Up in Mungiki-Hit Areas
- Mombasa Council Loses War Against Garbage
- Researchers Breed Weed-Resistant Cereal
- Combine Anti-Terror Teams - US
- Githongo Warns Coalition Over Corruption
- RVR in Plans to Overhaul Rail System
- Shock And Outrage Over Killer Rapist
- Kriegler Tells ECK to Embrace Change
- Shut Abattoirs Yet to Meet Standards
- Make City Work Now!
- Ministers Must Show Discipline
- Leaders Pledge to Deliver New Constitution
- Four Arrested in City Over Fazul Link
- Workers' Retirement Age May Rise
- Rights Body Report 'Doctored'
- Give Amnesty to End Graft Cases - Githongo
- Gathering Storm of Expectations in Nairobi Slum
Business Daily (Nairobi)
July 2, 2008
News Article By John Kamau
Yesterday's motion of no confidence on Finance minister Amos Kimunya was the third such proposal touching on a Cabinet minister in the history of the Kenyan Parliament.
While Parliament lacks mandate to fire a Cabinet minister, it points to the direction that the appointing authority should follow.
A precedent was set in 1989 when the then Embakasi MP, Mr David Mwenje, who has since died, moved a motion against Vice-President Josephat Njuguna Karanja who had been accused of usurping Presidential powers.
Dr Karanja had been censured in public as a "kneel-before-me" politician in a campaign led by a then low-key civil servant, Mr Kuria Kanyingi, the immediate former Limuru MP.
Dr Karanja was forced to resign as VP on the floor of the House where he uttered the famous remark that "common decency had been thrown out of the window and replaced with political thuggery and vindictiveness."
In his place, former President Moi appointed Prof George Saitoti, who survived a motion of no confidence brought to Parliament by then National Development Party MP Otieno Kajwang' over the Goldenberg scandal.
When the motion came to Parliament, Prof Saitoti got unlikely support from Mr Mwai Kibaki's Democratic Party MPs who voted alongside Kanu to save the VP from censure.
Thus, Parliament has not had a chance to show what it can do in case it passes a vote of no confidence in a minister.
It is an issue that was raised during the debate yesterday.
The National Accord and Reconciliation Act says that the removal of any minister in the Grand coalition should be subject to consultation and concurrence in writing by the leaders.
That means that unless both President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga agree, a minister censured by Parliament can still stay in office unless he resigns as Dr Karanja did.
The Constitution of Kenya says that a vacancy in the office of a minister happens if the holder ceases to be an MP and when a new person is elected to the office of the President and makes an appointment to the office.
It will be interesting to see how Parliament tackles the question of the powers it has vis a vis the survival of a censured Cabinet minister.
