National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende has ruled that the controversial nominations of four Kenyans to top State jobs were unconstitutional.
In a ruling, Mr Marende said President Kibaki did not follow the law in nominating Mr Justice Alnashir Visram to be Chief Justice, Prof Githu Muigai (Attorney General), lawyer Kioko Kilukumi (Director of Public Prosecutions) and William Kirwa as Controller of Budget.
He said that President Kibaki did not carry out consultations as required by the Constitution and the National Accord.
The Speaker ruled that the President and Prime Minister Raila Odinga should go back to the drawing board and come up with a new list of nominees to the four positions.
Read proceedings that led to Mr Marende’s ruling below:
18: 45 Mr Marende tells Parliament that MPs should wait for the names of nominees drawn within the confines of the constitution.
18: 43 BREAKING NEWS: Marende declares Kibaki nominations unconstitutional.
18: 42 Mr Marende rules that the nominations are unconstitutional and no House Committee can remedy the matter.
18: 41 Appointments are required to be made by the President according to the National Accord in consultations with the PM and approval of the National Assembly.
18: 39 The constitution expressly provides that the President shall make the appointments but subject to a rider.
18: 37 Mr Marende says that the consultation needed in this case was one of compromise.
18: 36 He says the consultations required by the two principals is guided by the National Accord and he has not found such comparison within the Commonwealth.
18: 34 Mr Marende says that the constitutionality of the nominations centre around whether the President and the PM consulted.
18: 33 MPs alert the Speaker that it is 6.30 pm and the House should rise but he pleads for their indulgence.
18: 32 Mr Marende says the National Accord is anchored in the Constitution and provides for real power sharing.
18: 30 He reminds MPs about the impasse of picking a Leader of Government Business after both President Kibaki and PM Odinga chose different persons.
18: 27 The Speaker tells Parliament that constitutional provisions require consultations between the principals according to the Constitution and the National Accord.
18: 25 He says that the notion that the this criteria was ignored is a valid one.
18: 23 Mr Marende says that the nominations should have contained a memoranda outlining how the issue of gender balance and equity was addressed.
18:26 He says he is persuaded to believe that the JSC should have played a role in the nomination of the CJ.
18: 23 Mr Marende says that a ruling by the Chair that a motion may proceed does not rule out the question of the constitutionality of the nominations arising in the course of debate,.
18: 21 He says the matter has progressed in such a manner to make it of grave national importance and the time has come to make hard decisions.
18: 19 The Speaker says his opinion is important for a motion to be properly before the House.
18: 18 He says that it was not unconstitutional for a judicial officer to be nominated for the position of CJ without vetting.
18: 16 Mr Marende says that there was no motion before the House at the time of Imanyara’s request.
18: 14 He says that he is in a position to rule on four issues.
18:13 Mr Marende says he has had the benefit of perusing the reports of the two House Committees.
18: 11 He reminds the House that the Judge had ruled that no other State organ could take the process of nominating the individuals forward.
18: 09 The Speaker says the Judge found that the constitution was violated in making the nominations.
18:07 Mr Marende says that the court ruling that the nominations were illegal while not binding to Parliament could have a future effect.
18: 05 He says the position of the bodies are of real persuasive value.
18: 04 Mr Marende says he has now had the benefit of consulting materials relevant to the matter, including the positions of the JSC, CIC and the LSK.
18: 01 He says the other issues included: whether the PM and President Kibaki consulted, what is the measure of consultations, whether Parliament was properly seized of the matter and whether gender balance and equity was adhered to.
17:59 He says that he disposed of two of the issues: that a vote of the House could not determine the legality of the nominations and that he was competent to rule over the matter.
17: 56 Mr Marende says that from Mr Imanyara’s presentation he alienated ten issues for his consideration.
17: 55 He says Mr Imanyara claimed that Prime Minister Raila Odinga was not consulted and therefore the nominations were unconstitutional.
17: 53 Mr Marende says Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara had urged him to find the nominations of the CJ, AG, DPP and the Controller of Budget had contravened the constitution.
17: 51 He says that he will rule on whether the motion will be allowed and indeed on that of the Justice and Legal Affairs team.
17: 50 The Speaker tells the MPs that motion on debating the Okemo report needs his approval before the House ventilates on it.
17: 47 He says that while the Okemo report was tabled the Ababu team did not meet its deadline, but he reveals that he received the report Wednesday.
17:45 The wait is over. Mr Marende is making his ruling.
17: 38 More MPs seek ministerial statements. The long wait continues.
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