Mwende Mwinzi Appointment: The Last Nail in the Coffin of the Rubber Stamp Parliament?

A Parliament like the one we have currently has no principles and, therefore, cannot demand to be held with dignity.

Mwende Mwinzi. (Photo/NMG)

You cannot eat your cake and have it, so goes an old adage. The old saying basically warns that one can't have two good things that don't normally go together at the same time, like eating a cake and then continuing to possess that same cake so you can eat later.

The meaning of this proverb could not be more sensible to anyone than it is today to the National Assembly and Parliament in general following the appointment of Mwende Mwinzi as Kenya’s envoy to South Korea against a resolution of the House in 2019 that the issue of her dual citizenship be resolved first.

The resolution of the House while adopting the report of the Defense and Foreign Relations committee that vetted her suitability to serve Kenya’s interests in Korea, was that she renounces her US citizenship first.

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"Given the nature of the issue raised, it requires direction from you (Speaker). It is an issue that borders on contempt of parliament. The issue of contempt of parliament ought to take priority over other issues," Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo said on Thursday.

He added: "Where the law says that the particular approval takes effect with the approval of the House there can be no other way around it. If the House rejects, there can be no other legal process where one can end up being appointed."

Following the blatant spat on the face of the National Assembly by the appointing authority, the MPs are among other things, now reportedly mulling over frustrating Mwinzi's appointment by denying the Kenyan embassy in South Korea funds during the 2021/22 financial year.

A tough proposal indeed. Bure Kabisa! The legislators tough talk is nothing but hot air destined to nowhere. Believe it or not, there is nothing that the rubber stamp Parliament can or will do about this blatant disregard of the constitution by the dictatorial President. It is all over. Mwinzi is and will be Kenya's envoy to South Korea. The MPs should have known better when they blindly made a deal with the Devil.

When the Rarieda MP shamelessly talk of executive's 'contempt of Parliament' one can only wonder what parliament he is referring to. A Parliament like the one we have currently has no principles and can, therefore, not demand to be treated with dignity. Not especially from the very President who has turned it into his cheering squad. When you stand for nothing, you fall for anything.

The only way out for the MPs as it stands now is, accept the consequences of selling their souls to the Devil, lick their sh*t and spare Kenyans their empty rhetoric, as you cannot eat your cake and have it.

In other words, they cannot talk of 'contempt of parliament' while at the same time playing minions to the executive.