• The new changes in the assembly will be effected on the morning sitting of the House on Thursday, September 17.
• The seating capacity for Committee Rooms in Intercontinental House has been adjusted to 15 from the current 10 members while the Committee Room 12 shall remain out of use.
The National Assembly has reviewed its seating capacity in various spaces and facilities of the Parliament after approval by the Ministry of Health.
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi had instructed MoH to inspect the facilities and recommend appropriate seating capacity for the main chamber, committee rooms and other facilities within Parliament.
After the inspection, MoH recommended an upward review of numbers to be accommodated.
The main chamber will now hold 112 members up from the current 60, excluding the speaker, the Clerk, and the four key officers facilitating the sitting of the House.
The seating capacity for Committee Rooms in Intercontinental House has been adjusted to 15 from the current 10 members while the Committee Room 12 shall remain out of use.
Also, the Chapel shall accommodate 15 people while the Muslim prayer room shall hold 9 people, where six are males and three are females.
The speaker added that the capacity of the Mini Chamber and Committee Rooms 9 and 7 remain as per the earlier advice which was given in March.
The new changes in the assembly will be effected on the morning sitting of the House on Thursday, September 17.
Also, the speaker said that the catering facility within the parliament has been reopened, and only to be used by sitting members of parliament.
Speaker Muturi said that no visitors shall be admitted within the parliament building.
“I also wish to restate that no visitors shall be admitted to the precincts of parliament, except in exceptional circumstances permitted by Speaker for persons appearing before Committees, such as those currently appearing before PAC,” Muturi said.
The number of MPs had been reduced following the guidelines from MoH to prevent further spread of the virus.
During the 2020-21 budget reading in June, only a few MPs were allowed in.