Much-hyped LSK bid to occupy Parliament turns into cordial talks
George Kebaso @Morarak
National Assembly Clerk Michael Sialai yesterday told off the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) officials who had gone to Parliament seeking to evict legislators after a 12-day notice they gave for the dissolution of the August House expired.
Sialai reminded the lawyers - who were accompanied by members of the United Green Movement Party (UGMP) - that the matter was pending in court.
“Lawyers should be more conversant with legal processes, and should go to court for further advice,” he said.
New order
However, LSK President Nelson Havi leading the lawyers and former Nairobi deputy governor, Jonathan Mueke said Chief Justice David Maraga’s advisory for the dissolution of Parliament cannot be challenged in any court of law.
He maintained that the current Parliament is illegal and all its processes must be termed as illegitimate.
“We have told Sialai that from today, Parliament has ceased to be legal, and any member who continues to operate from these premises are trespassers,” he said.
Besides failing to pass the two-third gender rule despite coming up at the floor of the House four times, Havi noted that majority of Kenyans feel that the current Parliament is riddled with rampant graft and nepotism and want the legislators to vacate the honourable premises.
Mueke, the UGMP secretary general, said that the fact that Parliament failed for nine years to fix the gender law, and now with the CJ’s advisory to the President to dissolve it, MPs don’t have any option but to vacate their national assembly offices.
“We came here to tell the clerk that any business they transact is illegal,” he said.
He said failure to obey the law is likely to spiral into a revolution as has been witnessed in some parts of Africa, notably, Zimbabwe, Mali and Sudan.
“ We will continue standing with this new order where young people in this country are pushing for obedience to the law,” Mueke said.
Yesterday, Havi and a group of about 15 lawyers casually walked from the Supreme Court to Parliament building-armed with two voluminous petitions. LSK has 14,000 registered members.
