PM’s Question Time must not be wasted

Speaker Kenneth Marende will soon make a directive about the shape and form of Prime Minister’s Question time (PMQs) and, like in previous occasions, his decision will be both binding and final. It is also likely to be historic. It will be an important decision because even though PMQs is in the new Standing Orders of Parliament, MPs have not quite understood what to do with the time Raila Odinga is given to establish dialogue with them. According to Number 10.gov.uk, the official site of the British Prime Minister’s office:

Prime Minister’s Question Time (often referred to as PMQs) is an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject.It lasts for about 30 minutes and usually focuses on the key issues of the day.The PM answers questions every week that Parliament is in session - so for about two hours per month. This is twice as long as his chief cabinet colleagues or their junior ministers.PMQs were introduced fairly recently, in 1961, after a successful experiment while Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister.The half-hour session starts with a routine question from an MP about the Prime Minister’s engagements.Following the PM’s reply, the questioning member can put a supplementary question about anything relating to the PM’s duties or any aspect of Government policy.

That explanation from UK could be used by our Parliament to make sure that Kenya’s PMQs is utilized for the sake of improving our democracy rather than for an unhealthy opportunity to create a platform for meaningless party debates on who is the most powerful person in Kenya’s legislature. The PMQs should be a time when Raila is given an opportunity to elaborate Government policy on many issues which, very often, are confused with petty party rivalries. So far, Kenya has benefited quite a lot when Prime Minister Raila Odinga is given an opportunity to make such an elaboration.

The latest example concerns the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Prof. Philip Alston on extrajudicial killing in Kenya. Soon after the professor’s report was published, which condemns Kenya as a trigger happy nation, PNU was up in arms. It rubbished the report’s recommendations to fire Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and to have the Attorney General Amos Wako tender his resignation. The first stand taken by the PNU part of the Government was to protect the two men who everyone in Kenya knows have plenty of skeletons in their cupboards. One is heading the force that has literally slaughtered hundreds of Kenyans and the other has made sure that that crime will always be committed with impunity.

When Prof. Alston presented his report at a United Nations human rights hearing in Geneva on June 3^rd, PNU team composed of Ministers Mutula Kilonzo and George Saitoti was prepared for a rebuttal to save Kenya’s name and political image in a manner similar to that of all other African despots accused of violation of human rights i.e. simply deny the accusation and accuse the accusers of ignorance and evil intentions. This is the method used by the dictator of Sudan, Omar Al- Bashir, who is despised by all the freedom-loving people of the world for the despicable genocide in Darfur. Kenya was about to be lumped together with Al-Bashir’s Sudan, when Raila Odinga salvaged the situation.

He did so by sending a powerful team of ODM Ministers composed of James Orengo and Amason Kingi who must have knocked some sense into the conceited minds of the PNU ministers and made them accept the fact that there are some very brutal police killings that take place in Kenya which are normally executed with impunity. Internationally, that step made the world take an about turn position towards Kenya’s human rights records. If that record was bad, as indeed everyone knows it to be, then at least the Kenyan leadership owned the sad situation and accepted the fact that some drastic measures needed to be taken to remedy the horrible situation.

It was Raila’s quick action, together with the ODM policy on human rights, which saved the situation. The Prime Minister’s Question time should be taken with the same Geneva attitude that replace a lot of nonsensical PNU policies that protect criminals, with sensible policies that seek truth and justice for the people of Kenya. As it were, there are a lot of Kenyan Government policies that are caught up in the PNU-ODM confused rivalry and someone sensible must lead the way the Geneva style. PMQs must also be used to seek Raila’s guidance on Government policies towards a number of controversial issues concerning land, corruption and reforms.

For the first time in a long period both the Prime Minister and the President seemed to be speaking the same language on Madaraka Day when they promised the people of Kenya to bring about the reforms in the country as soon as possible. Most of the reforms concern the Police force and the Judiciary. The tone set by the two leaders on Madaraka Day should be followed up in Parliament during the PMQs.

What, for example, is the true Government policy concerning the resettlement of people now living in Mau forest? Listening to the Minister for Agriculture, William Ruto, on that issue, for example, one can clearly see that he seems to contradict himself many times depending on which audience he is addressing. When he talks to environmentalists he calls for the resettlements of the people now occupying the rain forests; and when he talks to the people living in the forest he asks them to ignore all calls to resettle them. That contradiction can be avoided through PMQs interrogations.

The current coalition Government has contradicted itself on many policy issues which continue to confuse the people of Kenya. Take the issue of corruption, for example. Every time PNU leaders talk about the sensitive subject, they become loudest when the corruption they are trying to expose concerns ODM personalities. They like to talk loudly about the maize scandal because they believe those involved with the scandal are either ODM leaders or their close relatives.

Likewise the ODM leaders become extremely strident and vociferous when they talk about Anglo Leasing scandal because they believe someone very close to Kibaki is involved. Whereas it is extremely healthy for the two parties to operate as people’s watchdogs in examining each other’s evil deeds, the exercise can be counterproductive when it is not based on well defined policies concerning the desired goals. Those policies can be defined at the PMQs.

The reason the current PMQs has not been as popular as it was expected to be is that it has taken the shape and form of ordinary Parliamentary question time when MPs query Ministers about their activities. Questions are normally submitted to the Ministers in a written form and answers are given in similar manner. Supplementary questions are then asked based on the answers given by Ministers. For the time being the Prime Minister’s questions are asked in the same format and so far they appear to be handled in the same manner as other ordinary questions for Ministers. Thus the Kenyan PMQs has tended to be a bit boring and certainly not as lively as the British one. Policies are not examined in as thorough a manner as they are supposed to.People disagreeing with the the PM have not been given time to express their views more emphatically.

Though Mr. Marende will have the final word on this matter I believe the Kenyan PMQs time should be devoted to Government policies on current hot issues where there is a lot of confusion and contradiction. In other words, the PMQs should be based in the hottest issue where the Government policy appears to be vague or confused. The media should also be given an opportunity to take part in debating the issue. For that matter , whatever the Prime Minister is going to talk about should be known well in advance by the whole country for at least three days in advance. Then the views of all political schools of thought should be examined publicly before the Prime Minister takes the flour of the House to give the official Government stand before he is interrogated by MPs. That way the debate will be lively and healthy for Kenya’s democracy.