Speaker Justin Muturi has shelved the debate on the partnership agreement between Kenya and the United Kingdom.
This was after the National Assembly Trade committee tabled the agreement for ratification by members of Parliament without attaching annexure showing goods that will be traded by the two countries.
The treaty sought to define goods which will enjoy tax reliefs on importation from the UK, which members said had to be made known before any business was conducted on the paper.
Muturi gave the directive following an intervention by Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie who sounded an alarm that members were about to discuss the agreement without the annexure.
The Dagoretti South MP warned that the House was about to make a decision without knowing what goods were due for exemptions in the agreement.
“As we look at this treaty without looking at the annexes, we don’t know which products will be exempted. Are we allowing milk, toothpicks, raw hides and skins to imported tax-free under the new partnership?” the MP asked.
“This report as has been tabled in the sense that the treaty that is before the House is incomplete. Public participation was also incomplete.”
Speaker Muturi weighed in with a caution that maybe the UK will be shipping motor vehicles duty free. “If the document tabled here without annexes, then the process is incomplete,” the speaker said.
He told the Trade committee chairman Ali Adan Haji (Mandera South MP) that House staff confirmed that what they received did not include the annexure.
“You must have obtained in the streets. If they are not in the table office, then they must have walked here irregularly,” Muturi said.
“We need confirmation from the clerk before we can undertake this business. What Kenya is about to ratify is a serious issue. We need to ensure that members of this House and members of the public have full knowledge of what is before the House.”
