Parliament conducts most of its business through committees. These teams are the nerve centre of parliamentary work and therefore play a pivotal role.
When the committees are on local or foreign trips, they are on official business and are required to prepare a report to be tabled for approval.
Many may argue that these trips are meaningless but they are very important for lawmakers.
It is through such trips that MPs are able to benchmark against international standards, copy such practices and then come back home to push for far-reaching improvements, including in policy.
For instance, MPs attending the World Cup in Russia will be able to learn a number of issues that would give them a broad worldview, including how stadia are built. Once back, they will share what they would have learnt through a report that will be tabled before the bicameral House.
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Coming at a time when Kenya is building stadia across the country, the report would offer insight into how stadia of international standards are built and how to host big events.
Secondly, once the MPs prepare their report, they will be able to identify policy gaps and lobby at the legislative and budget-making level.
I have heard some people say sportspeople were left behind and as such the MPs' trip was a waste of taxpayers’ money. That is not true. While sportsmen have a respected place in society, they are often not at the policymaking level.
The MPs’ presence at the Word Cup games will be an added advantage for the players since the lawmakers are expected to look into how Russia managed to host the event without any incident. That will inform how Kenya can bid for and host international events in future.
Most countries copy from one another rather than invent. Going forward, we want to ensure that such reports are taken seriously by government to inform better policies that will turn around our sports industry.
The Murang'a Governor and Deputy Minority Whip spoke to the Star.