Chaos rocked Parliament on Tuesday, March 12, after a section of Azimio Senators confronted the House chair and acting Speaker, Garissa Senator Abdul Haji, demanding he accord them more time to debate the Affordable Housing Bill.
During parliamentary proceedings, chaos ensued after Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang' aired his frustrations for not receiving adequate time to table questions over several amendments to the bill.
The MPs were discussing the amendment of Clause 42 (b) which seeks to limit the number of Affordable Housing units one Kenyan can have.
The bill is currently in the Third Reading stage.
Kajwang requested that the chair should accord him 15 minutes to give his views on the amendment without interruption.
In a rejoinder, Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot noted that Kajwang's request was disregarding the rules of the House.
"I take great exception with the conduct of Kajwang', if it was another senator, I would assume that he doesn't know the rules of this House and what we do in Third Reading, he was cheeky," he stated.
"This should be done in a quick format, hardly one minute and you give opportunity to the person to convince why the amendment is important. This is not a debate stage."
Cheruiyot's comments raised the ire of Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna who defended Kajwang' by claiming that the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) senators sought to speed up the process to pass the bill into law.
"Mr Chair, nobody should rise and tell you about traditions, they only exist where there are no express provisions of Standing Orders so Kajwang is in his right. I am surprised someone who is doing his third term in this House has no idea which Standing Orders he's referring to. Don't be intimidated by anyone," he pointed out.
Following the argument, the Azimio senators stood and confronted the chair, demanding their plea to be heard. This led to the House security surrounding the chair in readiness to protect Haji from any ensuing melee.
After a shouting march between the opposing sides, the chair was able to restore order as the Azimio senators took to their seats to continue with the debate.
