Nominated Senator Gloria Orwoba will lose a hefty perk after her colleagues voted to suspend her from the House over alleged gross misconduct.
The Senators on Wednesday endorsed the report by the Senate’s Powers and Privileges Committee that recommended the harsh punishment.
“Pursuant to section 17(3)(g) of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, 2017, the senator be suspended from the House for the remainder of the second session of the 13th Parliament,” the report states.
The approval of the report now means that Orwoba has been restricted from accessing the precincts of parliament for the entire period of suspension.
She will not attend senate plenary and committee sessions and thus forgo all the allowances.
Apart from that Orwoba is also barred from local and foreign travel, which MPs bank on for extra coins outside their normal pay.
On resumption of Senate sitting in February, Orwoba will be required to, apologize to the Senate, Senators, the Clerk of the Senate and the secretariat of Parliament.
On Wednesday, a majority of the voted in the affirmative, condemning the lawmaker to a suspension that will see her out of the chamber and committees until February next year.
Senators Boni Khalwale (Kakamega), Okiya Omtatah (Busia), Wakoli Wafula (Bungoma), and Beatrice Ogolla (Nominated) are among the lawmakers who supported the motion to suspend their colleague.
“The report before us is not a gender issue. You could remove the name Orwoba and substitute with Sifuna and the report would still stand,” Omtatah said.
The Busia senator added, “I do not get where the invitation to discuss gender is coming from? Senator Orwoba was given a chance to prove herself and I want to submit that sexual harassment came at the tail end.
Khalwale while supporting the motion charged that their collective resolve should raise the bar and improve the respect for women in politics.
“Who are these young people who want to lecture us about gender? Grace was a woman who broke the grass ceiling to become the first female MP. Don’t talk about youth women, but what kind of youth or woman,” Khalwale said.
The Powerful committee chaired by speaker Amason Kingi has delivered the harsh punishment after the lawmaker failed to honour its invites and summons to defend herself against damning allegations.
Orwoba was accused of making unsubstantiated allegations of sexual favours by some parliamentary officials.
“Senator Orwoba made unsubstantiated allegations that there were instances of pursuit of sexual favours in parliament by posting various messages on senate business WhatsApp,” the report states.
Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi said that it was important for senators to align themselves to the conduct of the previous two parliaments where Senators conducted themselves with decorum and where members had serious divergent views but respected themselves in the house.
“We have also seen the manner he has subjected the Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye who is very professional in his conduct and deserves respect with his illustrious career in the Senate,” Osotsi said.
