House committee rejects amendments to security laws
By Mercy.Mwai, May 17, 2023
Security agencies have suffered a setback after a House committee rejected proposed amendments to the Prevention of Organized Crimes Act and the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) ACT.
In a report tabled in the National Assembly, the committee on Administration and Internal Security say the amendments either contradict themselves, require substantive amendments or are unnecessary.
On the Prevention of Organized Crimes Act, which has three amendments, the committee objected to the first amendment which proposes an increase of penalties related to obstruction of justice from Sh500,000 to Sh10 million.
In their report, committee members note that there was no substantive reason or empirical data provided for the effectiveness of enhancement of penalties.
It also said that for the amendments to pass, it would require them to be subjected to further debate and thus it was necessary to have them as a substantive amendment to the principal act instead of a miscellaneous amendment through an omnibus bill.
Regarding amendments to the NPS Act, the committee rejected a proposal to increase the time within which NPSC submits its annual report from three months to nine months.
The committee said no basis had been provided for increasing the time for submission of annual report.