National Assembly has asked the court to dismiss a case seeking to stop the swearing in of MPs elected on August 8.
Parliament holds that the President is yet to gazette the place and date of the first sitting of the new house and as such the suit is premature and misplaced.
“No prejudice or harm shall be caused to the women lobby group if the members of the 12th National Assembly will be sworn in,” court heard.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Justin Muturi, told the court that it is not possible to have the alleged legislation enacted unless the members of the 12th parliament are sworn in and allowed to carry out their constitutional mandate in accordance with the constitution.
Further the court heard that failure by Parliament to enact the said legislation cannot be remedied by an order of the court stopping the swearing in of the Members of the National Assembly and the Senate.
“The orders sort by the petitioners are contradictory in that the same petitioners who seek to stop the swearing in of the members of parliament are also expecting the same court to give orders directing parliament to pass the necessary legislation to implement the two-thirds gender rules the first order of the business,“ speaker Muturi said.
In the case women lobby groups, CREW and FIDA want the reconvening of Parliament stopped for failing to meet the constitutionally provided two-thirds gender majority rule.
