President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga when they met at Harambee House on March 9, 2018 and shook hands.
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How Uhuru-Raila handshake killed the Opposition
What you need to know:
- Government Bills no longer face stiff opposition on the floor of the House as Mr Odinga’s troops have been in the forefront ensuring that President Kenyatta’s agenda is not derailed.
- After Wiper Democratic Movement leader Kalonzo Musyoka joined ODM leader Raila Odinga in working with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
For the third year in a row, the handshake between President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga has reduced the rigorous debates that used to dominate the House when the Orange party was fully in the opposition.
Although the Constitution bestows the role of oversight to Parliament, in the Kenyan context, lawmakers elected on the ruling party ticket tend to support agenda in the House while the second largest party automatically assumes the role of the opposition.
This, however, has not been the case since the March 9, 2018 handshake, as ODM, which has traditionally played the opposition role, officially closed ranks with the majority party, Jubilee, in the House. The two sides are conjoined, making the 12th Parliament a House like no other.
Government Bills no longer face stiff opposition on the floor of the House as Mr Odinga’s troops have been in the forefront ensuring that President Kenyatta’s agenda is not derailed.
Minority leader and ODM chairman John Mbadi said the government should appreciate the new working relationship, saying, the party had helped the government to ensure all its Bills sail through with little or no opposition.
“The working relationship has been good and progressive so far and I hope it will continue next year because there is so much coming up in terms of Bills and the BBI which require a bipartisan political approach,” Mr Mbadi told the Nation.
Chair critical committees
He pointed out that the reorganisation of the committees, both in the National Assembly and the Senate, where members from the minority side were allowed to chair critical committees, has added value to the issues discussed therein.
Majority Leader Amos Kimunya said the deal had made Parliament work together and serve the public better.
“It has been great, thanks to the handshake and we were able to focus on achieving the greater good for our dear republic,” Mr Kimunya said.
It is this dalliance between ODM with Jubilee in the House that prompted Deputy President William Ruto’s allies, led by the Jubilee deputy secretary-general, Mr Caleb Kositany, to threaten to take up the role of official opposition in Parliament.
Mr Kositany sought guidance from the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Justin Muturi, on whether the Orange party should continue discharging its oversight role in the house.
He pointed out that ODM should relinquish the chairpersons’ position of the two key watchdog committees in Parliament — Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Public Investments Committee (PIC).
The Standing Orders state that the leadership of the two committees be reserved to the opposition party in Parliament, in a bid to check the financial expenditure of the government.
However, Mr Mbadi pointed out that the handshake had not completely diluted the role of the opposition, saying they have been pointing out the ills of the government.
Fight the government
“There is this notion that the role of the opposition is to fight the government. The government is not our enemy. In fact, we want President Kenyatta to succeed, but that doesn’t mean we don’t play our oversight role,” Mr Mbadi said.
“The role of the opposition is not to abuse the government, but to point out where they are not doing things right and correct it,” Mr Mbadi added.
In July, Mr Mbadi wrote to Mr Muturi for allocation of time every Thursday to make a statement in relation to the oversight role of the minority side as stipulated in Standing Order 44 (2), which states that the Leader of the Majority Party, or the Leader of the Minority Party as the case may be, or their designees may make a statement relating to their responsibilities in the House or the activities of a committee.
Mr Mbadi cited a case in May, when Senate Minority Leader James Orengo, and Minority Whip Junet Mohamed, separately, but in what looked like a coordinated message, led calls for a proper response, telling the House to demand accountability on the use of coronavirus funds.
Critics of the turn of events since the March 9 handshake say the opposition now cannot offer meaningful oversight of the Executive.
Outside Parliament, opposition leaders have had the tough task of convincing the electorate that they can still keep the Jubilee government in check while working with the Executive to unite and develop the country.
Mr Odinga, who was Jubilee’s fiercest critic in its first term, has on many occasions denied assertions that the opposition is dead, saying they only have a ‘working arrangement’ with the government and that nothing stops him from criticising the government.
After Wiper Democratic Movement leader Kalonzo Musyoka joined ODM leader Raila Odinga in working with President Uhuru Kenyatta, only their Nasa co-principals, Mr Musalia Mudavadi remains as the notable opposition figure that sometimes asks critical questions on the operations of the government.
The Nasa coalition had strode in Parliament in 2017 with a combined strength of 123 MPs, which they initially used well to keep the government in check, constantly giving the dynamic duo of the President and his deputy sleepless nights.
