SAM’S SENSE: 13th Parliament turns 3

On September 8th, the 13th Parliament turned three: a major milestone for a House that has now completed nearly two-thirds of its term. It is fair to congratulate the National Assembly and the Senate.

But anniversaries are not just for celebration; they are moments of reflection. For both legislators and the citizens they represent, this is the time to ask: how far have we come? What gains have we made? And what opportunities have been lost?

This appreciation may help define the remaining life of the House and possibly the final two years for some members who may never get another chance to serve in the same capacity.

To its credit, the 13th Parliament has been a loyal ally of the Kenya Kwanza administration. It has passed bill after bill to advance the government’s agenda — from Universal Health Coverage laws creating the Social Health Authority and other agencies, to legislation enabling the affordable housing programme that stalled under the previous administration. The House has also endorsed new taxes, fresh monthly deductions, and the establishment of more state corporations.

Today, thanks to the Houses of Parliament, Cabinet Secretaries attend a new-look “question time” to answer members’ questions and concerns.

This Parliament has probably vetted the highest number of Cabinet nominees than its predecessors, following mass dismissals and endless reshuffles. But it has also looked the other way when questionable nominees were brought forward, preferring loyalty to scrutiny.

It has passed two Finance Bills that changed the lives of Kenyans, largely for the worse, in the name of supporting the government.

It has stayed silent on secretive procurement deals until public outrage forced a response. By then, the Adani energy contracts were already sealed and the JKIA expansion proposal was well underway. The country was saved by raw intelligence from Kenya’s partners, in this case indictment of Adani owners in the US. Oversight, in these cases, was little more than theatre.

The 13th Parliament gave a clean bill of health to a Ksh.104 billion project to build an integrated healthcare information technology system under a consortium: understandably, the panacea of all challenges in health information sharing. We were in this country when the same MPs started asking questions about why the country was spending such an amount on a system that had not resolved fraudulent claims at SHA.

While Kenyans poured onto the streets, unheard and frustrated, MPs sat comfortably in chambers passing taxes against the very people they represent. When the President rejected one Finance Bill, the leadership mocked Kenyans, boasting that what had been rejected was later enacted through the back door.

Yet as the third anniversary approached, the same legislators were humiliated by the President himself, labelled corrupt, extortionist, and self-serving. Naked. Exposed. Betrayed. And suddenly, they confessed: deal-making is the currency of Parliament. Loyalty is bought with constituency projects or tenders. Votes are traded for promises.

Yet, the Constitution assigns Parliament three roles: representation, legislation and oversight.

But this has been eclipsed by self-interest and the pursuit of quick riches, all with an eye on 2027.

While at it, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is resuming voter registration on 29th September. The next chapter is being written, where will the members of the 13th be?