The Senate Justice and Legal Affairs Committee was on Thursday forced to adjourn its sitting after members of the public failed to show up for the meeting.
Senators were embarrassed after sitting in wait at the chambers for nearly two hours without a single representative appearing to present concerns over the Impeachment Procedure Bill.
Committee Chair, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, called off the meeting at noon expressing concerns that no stakeholder showed up to make presentations on the crucial bill.
"We were expecting stakeholders such as the Council of Governors, the Kenya Law Reform Commission, Law Society of Kenya and Kenyans, in general, to come to give their input into this instrumental piece of legislation but no one has come," he told reporters.
[caption caption="Senate Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Chairman Samson Cherargei (L) and Mombasa Senator Mohamed Faki (R) after they called off the public hearing sitting on the Impeachment Procedure Bill"]
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The chairman took the opportunity to stress the importance of the legislation in upholding the constitution adding that it would not interfere with the mandate of the National Assembly.
"We are also trying to ensure that we don’t have frivolous and vexatious impeachment motions from the members of the county assembly.
"We are not in any way doubting their capacity, but we are giving them a particular threshold or standard so that by the time it reaches the level of Senate or of the National Assembly, there are some minimum requirements to ensure that we stick to the spirit and the substance of the Constitution," he explained.
The chairman announced that a new date for the public participation opportunity was set for July 31.
Members were given the option to submit their view in written memoranda that can be sent through the Parliament postal address.
Meru Senator Mithika Linturi spared no courtesy to members of the public emphasising that the let down would be etched in history should the bill become law.
"If the bill were to assent to the law then nobody should challenge it because we did what was humanly possible to ensure participation by the public.
"Today is also a good day because the members of public will be told that the Committee on Legal Affairs sat waiting for you to give your ideas on this Bill; you never showed up. You were extended another date, and you never showed up, " Linturi stated.
[caption caption="Meru Senator Mithika Linturi speaks to the press from Parliament buildings during a past briefing"]
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