MCAs to be tested for Covid-19 as business resumes today

The Nairobi County Assembly's in-tray is full as ward representatives resume business today (Tuesday) after a three-month recess occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, none of the Members of the County Assembly will be allowed to attend plenary sessions or access the assembly precincts without proof that he/she has been tested for Covid-19.

Last week, a procument officer tested positive for Covid-19, hence the testing for everybody seeking access to City Hall.

“It is a public office where MCAs come regularly. As a safety precaution, all members need to be tested,” speaker Beatrice Elachi said on Monday.

The testing will be done at the entrance and only members who have been tested and the results shown to be negative will be let into the assembly, Elachi said.

“I’m aware some members have already gone for testing, including myself. If they can go earlier the better so that we have quorum,” the speaker said.

MCAs will also be required to wear face masks all the time and to regularly use the sanitiser as per Covid-19 containment measures.

Plenary sittings were suspended on March 8 for 30 days as a preventative measure against the spread of coronavirus, the virus that causes Covid-19. Business was to resume on April 16, but this did not happen following the cessation of movement in and out of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area.

Priority will be the approval of the 2020-21 budget and the establishment of the modus operandi with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, Elachi said.

“Business is created by the executive but even before we think of business we need to realign everything and see how the assembly will restructure itself to work with NMS,” she said.

She said members wanted to know how they will oversight NMS, which is a creature of the Office of the President. There was a need to come up with a framework of how the two institutions will work, the speaker noted.

Another urgent matter is the domestication of the Deed of the Transfer Bill for NMS to have legal backing.

June, being the budget month, it is expected that the County Assembly Budget, Finance and Appropriation Committee will have prepared the budget.

Committee chairman Robert Mbatia said members have been meeting virtually to prepare the 2020-21 budget.

“We have been meeting online and have sectors from the executive submitting the estimates for the financial year 2020-21. The committee shall ensure that everything is done in time," he said.

The executive has also submitted a supplementary appropriation bill to the assembly for consideration.

The bill allocated the NMS Sh3.5 billion, which, however, was withdrawn and resubmitted with the estimates.

It is likely that the legislators will be meeting virtually and hold plenary debates online as a Covid-19 containment measure.

Elachi said it is possible for sessions to be held without the MCAs being physically in the chamber.

The plenary sessions have in the meantime been reduced from three to two on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

There will be no sittings on Wednesdays to allow for the fumigation of the chamber and assembly precincts.

"The assembly shall borrow from what the National Assembly has been doing. We shall be having two sessions in the morning and afternoon from 10am and 2.30pm on both days,” Elachi said.

To ensure social distancing, the house sitting capacity has been reduced to a maximum of 42 members instead of 122.

The speaker said the MCAs will attend plenary sittings alternatively.

“The house leadership will be allowed in every sitting but the rest will have to alternate themselves to give each member equal opportunity to attend the plenary.

"Members will log in online and register early so that the speaker can check the numbers from Jubilee and NASA for the house to be in order before sessions start,” Elachi said.

Assembly committees will also continue meeting virtually.

The next recess is due in August.

- mwaniki fm