Ndindi Nyoro Suspended From Parliament After Declaring He Could Not Apologise
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has been slapped with a 5 day parliamentary ban after he refused to back down over some pretty contentious remarks he made about Kenya Pipeline Company shares.
Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangula brought the hammer down on Nyoro when the Kiharu MP refused to retract his comments and offer an apology.
At the heart of the issue were claims Nyoro made from the parliamentary rostrum. He was asked to come up with some evidence to back up his wild claims, but he wasn’t about to budge
Ndindi Nyoro Suspended Over Kenya Pipeline Shares Remarks
Nyoro was basically told to take a seat and stay out of parliamentary business for a bit after he refused to eat his words and apologise over Kenya Pipeline Company shares.
Wetangula told Nyoro he was free to attend parliamentary sessions as usual, but he wasn’t going to be allowed to have any input – and that was that – for a while.
“Take a day, take a week, take a year , it’s up to you Nyoro. and I’ve also got a message for the rest of the gang sitting behind me in this chair” Wetangula said, sternly warning the rest of the house
The whole ordeal was sparked off by a bit of a back and forth between Wetangula and Nyoro over whether the MP should take it all back and say sorry
Wetang’ula Rejects Nyoro’s Request for More Time
Nyoro was asked to cough up some evidence to back up the claims he made about Kenya Pipeline Company shares and guess what? he wanted another couple of weeks to do it in
Nyoro refused flat out to say sorry for what he was calling the truth, which is a bit rich considering he was asking the Speaker to use his authority on him
“I can’t bring myself to apologise for telling the truth”, Nyoro said with a straight face
“Im talking about the truth here. And the truth will always come out on top” I guess that’s what Nyoro thought anyway
Nyoro’s refusal to back down was the final nail in the coffin as far as Wetangula was concerned and Nyoro was subsequently barred from doing any parliamentary business
What Ndindi Nyoro Can Do During His Suspension
Wetangula told Nyoro to forget about the extra couple of weeks, basically because the allegations Nyoro made had already been wiped off the parliamentary records
Wetangula wasn’t having it all he wanted was for Nyoro to say sorry and call it a day.
“This is the house of rules , decency has got nothing to do with these kinds of games and when you get a grip, I’ll give you first dibs” Wetangula said in a very stern tone, making sure Nyoro got the point.
Nyoro will still be able to attend parliamentary sittings but as far as contributing to debates and all the rest Nyoro is out of luck
MPs React to Ndindi Nyoro’s Suspension
Wetangula eventually came down on Nyoro with the verdict that he’d be kicked off parliamentary business for five whole days – by which I mean, he can still show up to Parliament in person, but he can’t actually get anything done.
That means he won’t be allowed to argue his case before the whole House, move motions or otherwise take part in the kind of parliamentary business that gets things done.
The weird thing about this ruling is it’s left a lot of MPs scratching their heads with some arguing that it’s way too soft a sentence for Nyoro’s misbehaviour.
MPs Invoke Parliamentary Standing Orders
Nyando MP Jared Okello was one of those who thought the ruling was pretty lenient, suggesting that Nyoro could have got it a lot worse.
“ It’s a reminder that when the Speaker shows everyone that he’s got some class the rest of us should follow suit,” Okello said.” I reckon that when you show dignity, you get dignity back. And when you act like a plonker, you get a load of plonkers owing you one.”
As for Nyoro, himself, he reckoned that some of his colleagues are just looking to score points in the game of politics by stirring up trouble in Parliament.
This whole debate’s also highlighted the ongoing tension between keeping order in Parliament and making sure that MPs get to say what they think.
How Long Will Ndindi Nyoro Be Suspended?
The whole thing also got MPs going on about their own Standing Orders, which they use to sort out disputes and discipline one another.
Wetangula brought up Standing Order 107 – which lets him take action against a member who’s being pretty unruly.
According to this Order, if a member is being grossly disorderly, the Speaker can call ’em on it, tell ’em to shut up and get out of the Assembly for at least 5 days, but no more than 28.
Buuri MP Mugambi Rindikiri reckons that MPs should probably stop playing to the gallery a bit more often and just stick to the rules.
Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma also brought up some parts of the Standing Orders dealing with how to handle it when a member refuses to accept the Speaker’s ruling.
Kaluma pointed out that Standing Orders say a member who breaks the rules should be suspended for at least five days but no longer than 28.
This is all about the integrity of the House, Kaluma reckons. “We can’t just abandon the rules and let him sit there and do nothing.”
Why Was Ndindi Nyoro Suspended?
Nyoro’s suspension doesn’t stop him from physically showing up to Parliament, of course.
But, because of the suspension, he won’t be allowed to actually get anything done on the House floor for five sitting days.
That means no debating, no moving motions, no contributing to the parliamentary business and so on , just a good old fashioned time out.
The Speaker gets to use this kind of power to keep his members in line when they break the rules or refuse to take orders from the Chair.
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Ndindi Nyoro Suspended From Parliament After Declaring He Could Not Apologise
