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Fifteen MPs have not made any contribution on the floor of the House since they were sworn in, a report shows.
The report by Mzalendo Trust, its first scorecard of the 13th Parliament, said the 15 legislators who have not spoken include MPs who have been highlighted in previous scorecards of the 12th Parliament as having not made a single contribution.
“They include Oscar Sudi (Kapseret), George Aladwa (Makadara) and Samuel Arama (Nakuru Town West),” the report said.
The 2023 Parliamentary Scorecard covers the period between September 29, 2022, to June 30, 2023.
The report also named eight MPs who are yet to make a maiden speech in the House.
“The members include Ronald Karauri (Kasarani), Mohamed Soud (Mvita), Paul Chebor (Rongai), Ernest Kagesi (Vihiga), Joseph Iraya (Nominated), Teresia Wanjiru (Nominated), Elizabeth Kailemia (Meru Woman Rep) and Muthoni Marubu (Lamu Woman Rep),” it added.
Others who have not spoken are Fred Kapondi (Mt Elgon), Charles Gimose (Hamisi), Feisal Bader (Msambweni), Innocent Momanyi (Bobasi) and Mohamed Soud (Mvita),
The report added that the most active members of the National Assembly were Makali Mulu (Kitui Central), Beatrice Elachi (Dagoretti North), James Nyikal (Seme) and Ken Chonga (Kilifi South).
It further noted that in the Senate, the top contributors were Samson Cherargei (Nandi), Eddy Oketch (Migori), John Kinyua (Laikipia) and Mohamed Faki (Mombasa).
Mzalendo Trust is a parliamentary monitoring organisation started in 2005 and whose mission is to promote ‘open, inclusive, and accountable parliaments in Kenya and Africa.
The Parliamentary Scorecard is an annual ranking of performance by the Members of Parliament (MPs)-both the National Assembly and the Senate.
First published in 2014, the ranking is strictly based on the performance of the MPs inside the Parliament and more specifically in the plenary. It does not consider the engagements of MPs outside Parliament.
The report said the most active youth MPs have been Gitonga Mukunji (Manyatta), Irene Mayaka (Nominated), Josses Lelmengit (Emugwen), Robert Basil (Yatta), Amos Mwago (Starehe) and Joshua Kimilu (Kaiti).
It named the least active youth MPs as Japheth Nyakundi (Kitutu Chache North), Zaheer Jhanda (Nyabari Chache) and Teresia Wanjiru (Nominated).
The report said the least active Senators were Mirah Abdullahi (Nominated), Joyce Korir (Nominated), Shakilla Abdalla (Nominated), George Mbugua (Nominated) and Issa Boy Juma (Kwale).
It added that the least active youth Senators were Chimera Mwinzago (Nominated), Hezena Lemaletian (Nominated) and Karen Nyamu (Nominated).
The performance is exclusively determined by the number of times individual MPs speak in Parliament (speech counts) and as captured in the Parliamentary Hansard-the official Parliamentary record.
So far the rankings cover only plenary proceedings, whose information is readily available to the public.
“Information on committees’ proceedings is not as readily available. The limited access thus makes it hard to incorporate them into the rankings,” Mzalendo Trust said in its report.
All MPs in positions of parliamentary leadership, who by virtue of holding such positions have natural privileges, are exempted from the overall ranking.
Such privileges are manifested in their responsibilities that require them to inevitably speak as a matter of routine and requirement.
Such positions include leaders of both Majority and Minority sides, chairpersons of Committees, Majority and Minority whips and members of the Speaker’s panel. BY THE STAR