MPs Approve Late Night Sitting to Debate Finance Bill 2023

On Wednesday, members of parliament clashed over a proposal made by the majority side to move a procedural motion to allow the House to debate the contentious Finance Bill 2023. 

Speaker Moses Wetang'ula was obliged to offer direction during the morning session after Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wa proposed the motion to initiate the discussion and complete it late into the night. The House rules dictate that all sittings must conclude by 6:30 pm, however, if there is a need to continue the session, a motion must be made before the sitting begins. Such a motion comes in handy since Wednesdays are usually set aside for private members' business and questions. 

When Wetang'ula put the question, only 8 members were standing, which was not enough to meet the requirement of 25 members for a division that would have seen the lawmakers take a vote.

"There were only eight members and I would see them," Wetang'ula ruled when challenged by James Nyikal(Seme). 

Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu had requested more time to enable all the members to go through the report of the Finance and Planning Committee on the Finance Bill 2023, which had been tabled on Tuesday. However, Wetang'ula informed the members that the debate should lean on the Finance Bill, 2023 rather than the report. He instructed them to bind their debate to the Bill and only make references to the report.
 
"The debate will go on until 1 pm and then from 2 pm to 10 pm. You are not debating the report, you are debating the bill, understand the rules of the house," Wetang'ula said. 

When a section of the MPs sought a postponement of the debate to give them more time to go through the report, Wetang'ula rejected their entreaty. He told them that the Bill had been published sometime back and that the debate was likely to continue until late Wednesday night, during which they could read the report individually. National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u is on Thursday afternoon expected to present the 2023/24 budget.