- Muturi declined to name Ali saying the breach did not happen in the House and that no legislator had brought a motion to the House for that purpose.
- MPs said Ali painted House Speaker Justin Muturi in bad light when he called a press conference to to castigate his ruling.
Image: FILE
Nyali MP Mohammed Ali came under fire from fellow legislators who accused him of maligning them and Parliament.
MPs said Ali painted House Speaker Justin Muturi in bad light when he called a press conference to issue a statement on his failed bid to impeach Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia.
The legislators asked Muturi to name Ali to serve as an example to others who might want to cast aspersions on the integrity of the House.
“I watched the media briefing and the legislator brought the office of the Speaker to disrepute. He implied that the Speaker of the National Assembly colluded with cartels to defeat justice,” Minority Leader John Mbadi said.
Mbadi added that by declaring that the Speaker did not rule in an honest manner, Ali implied that the House had been compromised.
“We just can’t let this go like that. The Speaker clearly demonstrated why his motion was inadmissible. We must respect our own rules, our Standing Orders and authority of the House,” he explained.
Muturi, however, declined to name Ali, saying the breach did not happen in the House and that no legislator had brought a motion to the House for that purpose.
“Yes, certain comments can infuriate us but we do not have a motion to discuss his conduct. If we name him we will be in breach of the Standing Orders,” he explained.
On Tuesday, Muturi ruled that the motion by Ali did not meet the threshold, hence was not admissible. He said the Nyali MP did not provide evidence to the allegations against the Cabinet Secretary.
Ali had given notice to table a motion seeking to remove Macharia from office over his order to transporters to only use the SGR to haul cargo from Mombasa to Naivasha ICD.
He said the CS's action had caused public outcry and affected the transportat sector negatively, forcing some companies to shut down.
Last month, Macharia announced all cargo destined for Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan will be transported via the SGR for clearance at the Naivasha ICD starting June 1.
The MPs, however, insisted that Ali needed to be named for questioning Muturi’s ruling at a media briefing.
“A lot of times, the speaker has made rulings that made me unhappy but I did not act in a manner that was disrespectful to the Speaker and Parliament as a whole,” said Mbadi.
Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo, however, said Ali should not be named as it would give him unnecessary attention and attar sympathy for him.
“He come to Parliament on a platform of sensationalism. Let us not name him because it will give him credit and sympathy and raise his profile,” she said.
Deputy Majority Whip Maoka Maore said Ali should be named to “discourage” bad manners among legislators.
Suna East MP Junet Mohamed said ODM was “just right” to deny Ali party nomination for the 2017 elections. “ODM has been vindicated for denying him a ticket. You can see we would have given the wrong person a ticket,” he said.
Edited by Henry Makori