resolved when the President and Prime Minister took a retreat away from the public glare which resulted in them agreeing on a 40- Member cabinet.
on 15 January 15 2008. Pursuant to the constitution and the National Assembly Standing Orders, the first business of the new House was to elect a Speaker and Deputy
presided over the closely contested elections in which Hon. Kenneth Marende, MP, was declared the Speaker on the third round of the voting after obtaining
Procedural challenges from the start After the Speaker assumed the Chair, he was faced with procedural questions even before he could commence his first duty of administering the oath of office to the Members, including the President. The new Speaker had to make his first ruling barely one hour after his election. The solemn question before the Speaker was why he should administer the oath to the President first as his name did not
“The Kenya Coalition has immensely benefited from past and present lessons from the members of the Commonwealth family...”
The next hurdle was in harmonizing the party manifestoes. A manifesto forms the basis for crafting government policy to steer development. But their manifestoes differed, for instance, in governance and devolution of resources. A compromise was reached. The parliamentary leadership has been fundamental in fusing together the coalition members. The Tenth Parliament convened
Speaker. The Speaker would thereafter preside over the House and administer the oath or affirmation of allegiance to the Members-elect. There was an obvious face-off between the parties in the House whose candidates were garnering support for the Speakership. As in the presidential elections, the position was closely contested. In accordance with our Standing Orders, I as Clerk
38 | The Parliamentarian | 2010: Issue Three - Kenya
Above: Kenyan President H.E. Hon. Mwai Kibaki, CGH, MP.
top the alphabetical list of Members. Further, it was argued that the results of the presidential election were still being contested. Public confidence in institutions of governance shifted to Parliament and its presidium when the Speaker delivered his ruling: in administering the oath, he would follow the list as tabled by the Clerk which traditionally puts the name of the President on top followed by the other Members in alphabetical order. Since then, Parliament has played a complementary and supportive role in resolving coalition issues, whenever they arise.
105 votes against Hon. Francis Kaparo, the former Speaker, who received 101. No candidate had obtained the mandatory two-thirds of the votes of all the Members of the House in the first and second rounds.
On the question of whether he should administer the oath to the President as election results were in dispute, the Speaker ruled that pursuant to the Promissory Oaths Act, all Members and the Speaker are bound to take the oath of office and that he was only swearing in Members of Parliament and not