If you really believe kenyan parliament is a truly a hse of representatives then shouldn't we boot out these appointed MPs?

Ngii ndune, i second you on that one. what's the role of Nominated MPs anyway? they come from constituencies where there are Mps already, pooh!

Our system has corupted initial goals of niminated MPs. The idea behind it was to nominate people with special talents who can contribute in parliarment, but who stand no chance of making it in the polls.

Only Safina was able to give meaning to the concept of nominated MPs when it nominated Josephine Sinyo. She was a representative of visually impaired people. By the way, where did she go?

Nomination can be salvaged if its motives are redefined to ensure that the marginalized are represented. We all know that if a blind person stand for election, s/he will be beaten, not because s/he is unable but because of the social stigma that prevades our society. My only hope is that the nomination procedure will be streamlined to ensure that appointed MPs are appointed on merit.

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Nomination can be salvaged if its motives are redefined to ensure that the marginalized are represented. We all know that if a blind person stand for election, s/he will be beaten, not because s/he is unable but because of the social stigma that prevades our society. My only hope is that the nomination procedure will be streamlined to ensure that appointed MPs are appointed on merit.

mhhh, quite true

I completely disagree with you.Parliament is not a exclusive club it is supposed to be a meeting of peoples representatives not an appointed members club!!! In my view we should get rid of the other twelve members and make a truly representative body politic.

Ngii Ndune,
It is true that parliament is a house of representatives. But I will maintain that nomination is a noble idea if it is not corrupted. I do not see the difference between this and affirmative action. At first we are against it because it looks as though it is giving an unfair advantage to some people, but when you think about equal opportunity and other mitigating factors, you realize that there is need to address the inequality that exist in society. We need more voice so that issues that evade the public eye can get a platform. Nomination can be one way of solving this issue.

Suppose the disabled, or any other marginalized groups are given a chnace to nominate some peopel who will then be vetted by necesssary organs before the final appointment?

Sajini, there many avenues that we can guarantee that the minorities are fairly represented in various sectors of our society.The greatest being education but we cannot force 'personality' representatives on peoples based democracy that in itself denigrates the same process we want to uphold!

I have no qualms with this, from the update of Today's Standard, especially the last paragraph.

“It has been a ridiculous struggle for women. We are saying Kenya has come of age and women deserve what is rightfully theirs,” Gachukia said.

Cabinet has cleared way for the Bill

The Cabinet has cleared way for the Bill that would see 50 seats created for women repeal the current law that allows 12 nominated MPs.

The Bill proposes that each political party taking part in a General Election submit to ECK the names of 50 women ranking them by order of priority.

ECK would then allocate the numbers according to party strengths in the House. Each party has to take into account special interest groups like youths and persons with disabilities.

In my view it is bad for democracy and bad for the women.Sajini, affirmative action is good in as far as other sectors are concerned but in democracy it is denial of an inalienable act of liberty to choose who enacts laws that you have to live with.This is the creation of an elitist government!Guess who are going to be appointed not women of achievement from rural areas but elite women from influential families, if you want check the previous appointments!!!!!!!!

Look at the current nominated MPs that we have today. Name them, apart from Njoki Ndungu and Cecil Mbarire who champion women interests and the youth affairs respectively, the rest are by large political parties fill-ins that we only hear about during salary increase debate or partisan politics yap about. In my view the current and the proposed nomination system is not gonna help the ordinary Kenyan. Perhaps they should consider institutional nomination instead of this affirmative action crap. Nominees should come directly from institutions like Law Society of Kenya, Transparency international, National aids council, FIDA, ICPAK etc. because such fellas are professionals and would effectively champion the cause of their nominating bodies.

its quite tricky. are we saying that the proffessional bodies should be allowed to nominate rep from their organisations?to be a member of parliament(nominated or otherwise) one must be affiliated to a certain political party and that's where the problem is.Once these 'proffessionals' join parliament they will change completely. note that the 12 mps are supposed to convince the more than 200 hecklers on development issues and sanity in the house.its hard. very hard.
the original idea of nominated mps was good but it has now been thrown to the dogs. i think a fund like the CDF should be set aside, independent of the house to cater for 'marginalised'areas and guys like the ogieks. the fund should be controlled and handled by representatives from various recognised proffessional bodies on a rotational basis. No ex-mp,or ex-civic 'leader' shoudl go anywhere near this fund. mhh

Wa kihia,
Why bother? Why why stress ourselves with this nomination process? Let the people decide! Let parliament be for once a truly representative body.I long for the day parliament will truly be elected by the people!!!

Wa Kihia
I hear you when you say that 12 or so pros will not have a chance against 200plus hecklers. But check this out, it is organizations like TI and LSK that tip-of some opposition MPs on major Govt. scandals and Kaboom! The story is out. It is orgs like FIDA that keep guys like Sunkuli on their toes when they take advantage of female employees at work. When guys like Kamau Kuria and P Muite were LSK chair, they lived like fugitives maze, always running to foreign embassies for protection. Give these guys parliamentary immunity to spill the beans without fear of prosecution. But hey! That Idea is far fetched becoz no Govt. would tolerate such stress.
Ngii Ndune
Scrapping off the whole process is like throwing in the towel, you know, this is not working out so I am outta here. We have had some nominated MPs who made enormous contribution to the country like Saitoti would not have been VP was it not for nomination. The question of what he did and what we did or did not like about him is a topic for another day but today he is ranked as the most effective minister in Kibakis Govt. Nomination is screwed up alright but Why give up if we can fix it. Just my 2cents.

You can not say that since one guy is doing fine now is a result of appointment to parliament.Parliament is the elective body politic. If it is not fully democratic then we might as well appoint all of them that way we have the best talents you are calling for. Today it is twelve,tommorrow it will be fifty and then what? These fifty MPs who will they be representing and under whose consent? The only way a government can be by the people is through the ballot nothing no excuses!!!

A very interesting way of looking at it Papa Daad. The nommination, appointing or annointing of MPs by proxy. The real appointing doesnt look all that bad after all.