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The Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge will today start sending questions to Cabinet Secretaries ahead of their appearance in the House.

Njoroge said the CSs will start appearing before MPs on the week beginning April 4 once members resume from their short recess set to begin today.

“The clerk can now send questions to ministries to give Cabinet secretaries a headroom to appear. The CSs will appear in the House after the recess. As from Thursday we will give room for commencement of the process so that we can send questions,” said Njoroge.

The move by the clerk comes after lawmakers adopted a report of the committee a week ago, on Procedure and House Rules that sought to amend Standing Order 25A to allow a Cabinet secretary to expound on government policy, reply to questions and provide reports concerning matters under their control.

Following the move, the CSs will now be required to appear every Wednesday afternoon for three hours after the adoption of amendments of Standing Order 40.

 “That, Standing Order 25A be amended by deleting paragraph (b) and substituting therefore the following new paragraphs: a Cabinet secretary to expound on government policy, reply to questions and provide reports concerning matters under his or her control; other persons to make submissions or presentations before the House,” reads the amendments.

Parliamentary website

It adds, “That, Standing Order 40 be amended by inserting the following new paragraph immediately after paragraph (3)-(3A) On Wednesday afternoon, Questions and Reports by Cabinet Secretaries shall have precedence over all other business for a period not exceeding three hours.”

With the passage of the amendments, the clerk will be required to prepare and publish on the parliamentary website a tentative list of Cabinet secretaries scheduled to reply to questions and provide reports the House, a weekly programme showing the business of the House and a schedule of sittings of the various committees; and shall circulate such programmes to Members, State Departments, and the media not later than the Friday of the week preceding such business.

The Leader of the Majority in turn, the amendments say, will be required to inform the House of the date, time and order in which Cabinet secretaries shall appear.

“The Speaker may, on request of the Leader of the Majority, vary the order in which questions shall be disposed of, or defer a question scheduled to be responded to. A Cabinet secretary shall attend and answer questions concerning matters for which the CS is responsible.

Questions schedule

It adds, “Cabinet secretary shall provide physical and electronic copies of the reply to a question at least a day before appearing before the House. Subject to Standing Order 42A (Notice of Question), the House shall dispose of a question in the sequence it appears in the schedule of questions or as the Speaker may direct.”

The decision of the house comes after President Ruto asked Parliament to review its laws to allow his CSs to respond to questions by MPs and outline the government agenda.

In 2018, the National Assembly reintroduced the question time following amendments to the standing orders.

The move by the Procedure and House Rules committee did not however, mean that the CSs would appear in the chamber to respond to the MPs questions but they were required to appear before their respective departmental committees when required to do so to ensure that MPs are able to carry out oversight of the executive effectively.