The Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangula has lashed out at members opposed to the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) yet they loudly voted for the scheme in parliament.

The Speaker accused a section of the lawmakers of using public barazas to whip public emotions on the medical scheme that has continued to draw condemnation from the public.

He spoke at the on-going retreat for members at the Lake Naivasha Resort where they have converged to take stock of their mid-term performance.

Wetangula defended the scheme despite teething challenges that have caused uproar as Kenyans who have enrolled in the scheme struggle to access healthcare services.

“We have seen MPs use funerals and public barazas to condemn the medical scheme yet they fully supported this bill when it was tabled in Parliament,” he said.

The Speaker lauded residents of Kiambu, Nyeri, Embu, Nyandarua, and Kirinyaga counties for leading in the registration of the medical scheme.

He termed healthcare as one of the biggest challenges currently facing the public.

Wetangula at the same time challenged the legislators to tone down their rhetoric towards the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

He termed the differences between the House and the Commission as unhealthy adding that top leadership of the two institutions were in talks.  

“There is no need for the adversarial animosity between the National Assembly and SRC and talks are going on to resolve the differences,” he told MPs.

Wetangula at the same expressed fears that the boundary delimitation process may be the biggest casualty of the delayed reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

He noted that while the delayed reconstitution of IEBC had hindered the timely conducting of by-elections in various constituencies and wards, it was impossible to create additional constituencies. 

“The delay in the reconstitution of IEBC stalled crucial activities, including boundary delimitation, which is vital for the country’s electoral system,” he said

However, he pointed out that demographic-based adjustments could allow the IEBC to redraw boundaries by redistributing populations within existing constituencies.

Wetangula revisited the issue of NG-CDF which was declared as illegal by the High Court adding that parliament has since appealed against the decision.

“Even as we wait for the court’s decision, I am asking members to think of alternatives as NG-CDF has come in handy to voters mainly through bursary and capital projects,” he said.

He lauded the work done by the assembly despite emerging challenges from last year’s demonstration and invasion of parliament by Gen-Z.

“Fake news including recent reports that we lost an MP last week has affected the provision of service but we are keen to stop this through technology and provision of information,” he said.

On his part, the leader of the Majority Kimani Ichung’wa hit out at MPs who were discussing parliamentary issues in funerals and public barazas instead of raising them on the floor.

He said that the 13th parliament had achieved a lot including passing various bills despite the Senate trying to usurp their powers by discussing issues meant for the National Assembly.

“We are grateful that we have an IEBC selection committee which will in turn appoint new commissioners and they should be in office soonest to conduct by-elections,” he said.

The Leader of Minority Junet Mohammed identified public participation as one of the major challenges that had faced the current parliament leading to several court cases.

“We are aware that the term limit for 18 committees has come to an end and we have started to reconstitute the membership so that we don’t have a lapse when parliament resumes,” he said.

Others who spoke were the Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge who said that a total of 149 bills had been tabled in parliament and 17 ascended into law.

“We are engaging the National Treasury on the need to review budgetary support to the national assembly so that service delivery can be improved,” he said.