National
Assembly speaker Moses Wetang’ula in Mombasa on Thursday / BRIAN OTIENO
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has called on MPs to prioritise the Public Participation Bill, 2024, saying it will help resolve persistent friction between Parliament and the Judiciary.
The two arms of government, which have recently had an adversarial relationship, held a joint retreat in Mombasa on Friday, where they pledged to work together on common issues, while safeguarding institutional independence.
Wetang’ula said more than 70 per cent of bills passed by the House have been invalidated by courts over insufficient public participation.
He said the absence of a law defining the extent and depth of public participation has created confusion and wasted public resources.
“We should not use public participation to squander resources,” Wetang’ula said.
“If a bill has already undergone public participation in the Executive and the National Assembly, must the Senate repeat the process? I don’t think so.”
Chief Justice Martha Koome, who led senior Judiciary officials to the retreat, reassured that collaboration with Parliament would not compromise independence.
She emphasised the need for constructive engagement to avoid disputes such as those surrounding the NG-CDF.
“Had we convened earlier, some misunderstandings and instances of working at cross purposes might have been avoided,” Koome said.
She appealed for more funding to establish magistrates’ courts in all 290 constituencies, a move Wetang’ula pledged to support by enhancing the Judiciary’s budget.
Currently, the Judiciary operates 143 magistrates’ courts across the country.
The two institutions also agreed to expand knowledge-sharing and called for laws to curb cyber-bullying and disinformation targeting judges.
