Sonko among poor performing Parliamentarians in 2015 Report

Twenty Members of Parliament did not contribute to plenary discussions in the National Assembly at all in 2015. This is according to a report by Mzalendo Trust.

With three MPs on the list, Nairobi County has the highest number of silent legislators. Although all the Senators spoke in 2015, the worst performers are Hosea Ochwangi – nominated to present the youth and Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko.

Five of the 27 legislators have actually never given their maiden speech in the House since they were elected in March 2013.

They include: Alex Kosgey, Kipruto Moi, Oscar Sudi, Gonzi Rai and Tirus Ngahu. The findings show a continued trend that a third of MPs hardly contribute anything of substance to debate.

In 2015, 118 MPs spoke less than 20 times in the National Assembly. Two thirds of the Senators had over 50 speech counts.

“This is a dismal report given participation to debate is one of the key metrics in ensuring an MP his overall responsibility of representation, budgeting, oversight and legislation. Although the number of speech counts in plenary discussions is not indicative of the quality of input, it could allude to low capacity to exercise their Parliamentarians roles. The high level of poverty and poor service delivery in the country does not warrant a legislator remaining silent in Parliament,” said Jessica Musila, Executive Director Mzalendo Trust.

Chrisantus Wamalwa and Naomi Shaban emerged the most active contributors to debate in the National Assembly.

On the other hand, Fatuma Dullo and Mutula Kilonzo Jr. were the leading contributors in the Senate.

The most active chairpersons were: Boni Khalwale and Samuel Chepkonga in the Senate and National Assembly respectively. The Parliamentarians debate report card is compiled by Mzalendo.com based on the official Hansard contributions published by Parliament after each sitting.

Topics highly debated in 2015 include: Education, Health, Corruption, Devolution, Special Interests  (Youth, Women & People with disabilities), Political Parties, Agriculture, Access to Justice, Security, Gender, Infrastructure, Land, Tax & Revenue, Culture, Sports, Human Rights, Marriage, Environment, Mining and Business.