Senate Adjourns State of Nation Address Debate Prematurely

The Senate is expected to debate President Uhuru Kenyatta's State of the Nation address alongside his directive to leaders implicated in the anti-graft agency report to step aside to allow investigations.

The EACC dossier was tabled before the joint Senate and Parliament sitting by President Kenyatta on Thursday.

The dossier named 175 state and public officers linked to the graft allegations.

Senate was expected to start the debate early Tuesday but questions on whether the report should be tabled before it before being publicized arose forcing the pre-mature adjournment.

"Anything that is put before this house must pass the constitutional test. I am making this point in good faith. A document presented before the Senate must meet the requirements of the constitution. There is a requirement for publication. Anything presented to the House must have been published and publicized," argued Siaya Senator James Orengo.

Publication is a mere public notice

"Article 35:3 of the Constitutionn of Kenya 2010 says that the State shall publicize any important information affecting the nation. However, there is no mention on when the publication should be done. That should not affect the proceedings here today," argued Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale.

Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula said that "it is mandatory that the report be published before it is tabled in Parliament" adding that "all we want to have this report tabled, but we cannot cut corners and go against the constitution."

However, Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki said that "there is no requirement on whether the debate should come before or after publication. Publication is just for public notification."

While making the decision on whether tabling and debating of the report should be done before or after publication and gazzettment, Senate Deputy Speaker Kembi Getura said that while the issues raised were important, mandate requires that the report be tabled as soon as practicable.

"I do not see that we have broken any rules," ruled Getura. "Once it is tabled, it will be published and publicized, everybody will have access to the report."

Senate proceedings will resume at 10:35 AM.

By Maureen Murimi