National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has said that he will enforce an administrative ban restricting Members of Parliament from going on all foreign trips.
The Speaker pointed out that the ban would ensure that Parliamentary investigations that have been pending for over one year were completed.
Muturi mentioned that he would not allow legislators to leave the country without tabling reports of their work from their various Committees.
The Speaker added that there were many bills pending for legislation and the prohibition would help respective Committees meet deadlines.
"We have a lot of remaining work that is not being acted upon. There are bills that have constitutional deadlines, and yet we are not seeing reports. So very soon, if you get affected by the ban, just know that it is because something you were supposed to do in your committee was not done on time.” Muturi stated.
Muturi also noted that he was aware that Parliamentary Committees failed to adopt reports due to lack of quorom.
At the same time, the lawmakers tabled a bill seeking to introduce a law that would allow them miss as 'many' House sessions as possible. The Bill states that a member who fails to attend eight consecutive sessions will lose his/her seat. This could mean that if an MP misses many parliamentary meetings but not consecutive, his/her seat would not be declared vacant.
If turned to law, MPs would also be at liberty to skip meetings without seeking permission from the Speaker as is the case, but only need to “notify the speaker".
