National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah has set the stage for MPs to kick out underperforming chairpersons of committees.
Coming just moments after President William Ruto set the tone by reading the riot act to his Cabinet Secretaries, Ichungwah turned the heat to Parliament.
He has called for action against any chair or vice not delivering on their duties as expected.
"For the record, any chair who does not take their work seriously, members have the liberty to impeach that chair and elect another chair and I will be very available to make that happen," Ichung'wah said.
The decision by the Kikuyu MP came after it emerged that the chair of the Public Petitions Committee Nimrod Mbui was a no-show during the Tuesday afternoon session.
According to Ichung'wah, this was the second time the Kitui East MP has missed the 'important' session.
"I think we will just have no choice now....and the members of that committee then need to do the needful," he said.
In a move that caught many by surprise, Ruto had on the same day expressed his fury at the cabinet secretaries who failed to sign performance contracts over lateness asking them to explain their reasons in writing.
"I don't understand why one can miss such an important event which is surrounding their work. If you cannot keep time with your employer you have basically dismissed yourself," Ruto said.
Ichung'wah explained that the chairpersons did a lot of lobbying during the parliamentary group (PG) meetings for them to be considered and it was unfortunate they have backtracked on their mandate.
He retorted, "Being a chair of a committee comes with responsibility."
While expressing his disappointment, Ichung'wah said he has been receiving petitions from ministries on how bills and motions are being passed at the House.
This, he noted, has been without the input of the particular ministries attributing it to failures on the part of the chairs and vice chairs.
Private bills and motions from members, he added, were also being presented before the House without the views of the chairs of committees.
Earlier on, Speaker Moses Wetangula raised a similar concern saying the public was not being served accordingly noting many petitions had been committed to the Committee and "nothing comes back to the House".
"There are so many petitions pending before this committee and if this situation continues I'll ask the Majority and Minority Leaders to consider reconstituting the committee so that it can serve the public," said Wetangula.
In his address, Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi echoed the sentiment arguing the Committee has a greater responsibility hence it ought to be in the House permanently and remain proactive.
He also vowed to have a legislation committee to relook into the committee and others with a view to addressing such issues.
