Mr Speaker, you’re out of order speaking for Executive
Dear Moses Masika Wetangula,
Mr Speaker, Sir, I address you on a ‘point of order’. At least I know members of the august House get undisrupted airtime to prosecute points of order. Also, I appreciate you are too fresh from recess for a long epistle, so I will keep it short.
First, Mr Speaker, I appreciate your charisma and humour in public speeches. You have a rare ability of unleashing nuggets of wisdom. Your speeches are often punctuated with quotable quotes and top-notch diction, plus the sweet Bukusu accent. For starters, no one can be forgiven for forgetting you once had a ‘noisy and messy divorce’ in the Senate!
On to my point of order, Sir. While on your ‘working break’, Mr Speaker, you really spoke for the Executive. A simple search on Google shows you spoke a couple of times for the Kenya Kwanza administration, perhaps more than you did for your office.
From promising residents of Western Kenya government-sponsored development on behalf of the President; urging leniency in government criticism; soliciting public support for controversial government projects and policies; to extending an olive branch to the opposition to work with the Executive, Sir, you did an excellent job, worthy of a reward.
However, Mr Speaker, while I’ve no particular qualms with you speaking for whomever you choose to, and fully cognisant of the fact that I have no capacity to address, leave alone advise, you, I wish to remind you that you lead a team of people’s representatives, with divergent political backgrounds, allegiances and persuasions.
They represent constituencies, which should not be made to feel disenfranchised by the stand the House of representatives takes.
This because, Sir, there is little or no disambiguation between Moses Wetangula the person and private citizen; the politician from Western Kenya; and the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Whenever you speak in public, Mr Speaker, you represent any or all of the hats you wear but certainly what comes out prominently is Wetangula the Speaker. Rarely will your audience, outside your Bungoma constituents, think you don’t speak for the House you lead.
This goes without saying, therefore, if and when you call the Opposition leadership names, for instance, a majority of the people take that as the position of the arm of government you lead. Thus, politely, I request you to embrace the moderation and neutrality befitting the leader of the House of politically diverse representatives.
This, Mr Speaker, isn’t too much to ask. The bar was set a little higher by one of your predecessors, Kenneth Marende, whose wisdom Kenyans still consider “Solomonic”.
Despite known political loyalty, he was largely seen to act, in various divisive circumstances, very independently and neutral. For the record, I’ve no specific accusation of you regarding your House business.
In the standards set by Marende, I look forward to seeing you boldly say no to the interests of your nominating authority when they seem to contradict your express mandate. Marende’s record is yet to be broken; you may attempt to.
Honestly, Mr Speaker, your public utterances are becoming so predictable that even a visitor to Kenya would rightly guess who your nominating authority is. This is not the kind of Speaker of Parliament our society and laws envisage.
When you speak for the Executive, Mr Speaker, who speaks for the Legislature? The Executive has the office of the Government Spokesman, State House communications unit, ministries, and the Majority leadership in Parliament to speak for it. Stick to your lane, Sir.
You’ve previously, on several occasions, been accused of leading a House, that ought to be independent, to bed with the Executive. Speaker Sir, you can change course and choose credibility.
Finally, sorry if you find mine “misplaced, misdirected and unhelpful” point of order, but I insist, for speaking for the Executive, you are out of order, Mr Speaker Sir!
—The writer is an editor with People Daily
