MPs have raised concerns over delays by parliamentary committees in processing various statements sought from state departments.
This comes as House leadership cautions that the backlog risks undermining Parliament’s oversight role.
Statements allow members to question the government on important decisions and seek justifications for Executive actions.
Parliamentary records show that 132 statements requested across 19 parliamentary committees remain unanswered, even as the House proceeds for a one-month recess.
The House took a break on August 27 and will resume on September 29.
Deputy Leader of the Majority Party Owen Baya on Wednesday tabled a tracker showing the pending business.
According to the tracker, the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security had the highest number of pending requests, at 26.
The committee is chaired by Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo.
The Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure came second, with 21 statements pending, followed by the Departmental Committee on Education with 18.
The Transport Committee is chaired by Ndia MP George Macharia, while Tinderet lawmaker Julius Melly chairs the Education Committee.
The tracker also showed that other committees with significant backlogs included Finance and National Planning, chaired by Molo MP Kimani Kuria and Seme MP James Nyikal’s Health Committee, with eight cases each.
The Lands Committee, chaired by North Mugirango MP Joash Nyamoko, has seven pending statements, while Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations, chaired by Belgut MP Nelson Koech, had six.
Agriculture and Livestock has five pending statements, the same as Energy and Labour.
According to the tracker, Environment, Forestry and Mining had four pending statements; Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works had three; and Tourism and Wildlife had three.
Communication, Information and Innovation was listed as having two pending cases. Blue Economy and Irrigation, Justice and Legal Affairs, Social Protection, Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, and Budget and Appropriations each had one.
Baya said the tracker had been prepared after MPs asked Speaker Moses Wetang’ula to provide a clear record of how their requests for statements were being handled by various committees.
“If you have requested a statement and it has not been responded to, I will table this document so that you may know the status of your statement,” the Kilifi North MP told the House.
He urged committee chairpersons to treat requests for statements with urgency, noting that MPs raise the matters on behalf of their constituents.
“When members bring requests for statements, it is your duty to ensure you respond to them on time. They do it on behalf of their constituents,” he said.
Baya noted that committee chairpersons must ensure responses were not only accurate but also delivered within reasonable timelines.
“This will ensure that Parliament does not work in vain,” he said.
Baya singled out Macharia’s Transport Committee for failing to clear the requests.
“I think he is busy running for governor or something,” Baya said.
The committee’s vice chairperson and Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa defended his team, saying MPs could not be blamed for delays when Cabinet Secretaries had failed to submit the information required to prepare responses.
“We do not respond to reports from the blues. We respond with the reports that we are given,” Barasa said.
He said committee members had repeatedly pushed Cabinet Secretaries to provide responses, sometimes attracting accusations that they were harassing government officials.
“There are times when we push these Cabinet Secretaries so hard, that they say we are harassing them,” he said.
He noted that the matter had already been escalated to the Office of the Leader of the Majority Party, challenging Baya to explain what action his office was taking to compel Cabinet Secretaries to submit the outstanding reports.
“I am surprised that Owen Baya, who is the Deputy Leader of the Majority Party, reads his own report by saying that we have not ‘responded to’. We have escalated this matter to his office,” Barasa said.
“It is him who should confirm to this House what he is doing to ensure that Cabinet Secretaries bring reports to the committees for the chairpersons to submit them.”
He faulted Baya for blaming committees for a problem that partly falls within the Executive’s responsibility.
“Owen Baya is cutting a tree that he himself is standing on. That is his responsibility,” he said.
Tongoyo, whose committee had the largest number of pending statements, acknowledged the backlog and pledged to expedite the outstanding matters.
“I appeal to the members and report to the House that we will address the majority of the 28 listed Statements. It is our duty and it is in our interest, to expedite all Statements that have not been responded to,” Tongoyo said.
Suba South MP Caroli Omondi broadened the concerns to include delays in processing private Members’ Bills and petitions.
“I have about four Bills. Some have gone through First Reading and Second Reading, but they have not turned around to come back to the plenary,” Caroli said.
“I am very happy with what you are doing because that is what accountability is all about,” Omondi said.
