L. House suffers second quorum hitch after re-opening

The Lower House has once again failed to sit over failure to garner the requisite number to allow kick-off of business amid reports most MPs are out of the country barely a week after the resumption of business.

A text message to MPs from the speaker’s office Sunday night notified the MPs of today’s sitting which would cover two items in the order paper- the Speaker’s address and report from the Parliamentary Constitutional Oversight Committee.

However, a second text late in the night noted the House would not meet over quorum hitch. A similar quorum technicality gave MPs another break from business Saturday after only 116 MPs appeared in the House out of 275. The quorum threshold is 139 MPs.

The Lower House had until last week been on recess since mid-December. Failure to marshall the numbers could adversely affect the legislative agenda of the House which already lags behind despite need to pass crucial bills such as the Elections Act and the Petroleum Amendment Bill.

A section of MPs Saturday petitioned the speaker to defer the items on the order paper to allow the House to debate the security situation of the country. At least 50 people were killed and 57 others injured in March in 10 attacks claimed by Al-Shabaab.