Aden Duale (left) when he the minister for Livestock development and
deputy president William Ruto formerly the minister for Agriculture.
NATION
Daily Nation
Sunday, April 21, 2013
If you had told Mr Aden Duale in 2005 that he would one day
hold one of the most powerful political offices in the country, the
businessman would most probably have dismissed you as a lunatic.
The possibility had not entered his mind when he
switched from business to politics that year and plunged into the
campaign against the infamous Wako draft constitution that was presented
to voters in a referendum.
It was during the “No” campaign that he first
encountered Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto in the game of bare-knuckle
politics. Little did he know that he would work closely with the
President and Deputy President some eight years down the line.
When the Orange campaign against the draft
constitution turned into a political party, Mr Duale joined the team led
by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. He ran successfully for
Parliament in 2007 and was named Livestock assistant minister in the
Grand Coalition government that was formed to settle the 2008
post-election violence and build reconciliation.
But he was unaware of the fortunes and huge leadership responsibility that lay ahead.
“In 2009, Hon Ruto and I fell out with the party leadership because there was no democracy. I was part of the breakaway.
We were sacked in 2010, but that did not deter us.
Until January this year, I had five court cases brought against me by
ODM because of what they called indiscipline. We felt rejected and
humiliated, but we soldiered on,” Mr Daule told the Sunday Nation.
The then Dujis MP was also part of the team
marketing the United Democratic Movement (UDM), but the plan did not
work and in January 2012, he helped to found the United Republican Party
(URP) which is now one of the principal partners in the Jubilee
Alliance with 75 MPs, 11 senators and 10 governors.
“We have walked a long way, but today we say God is great,” Mr Duale said.
And now, after serving just one term in
Parliament, Mr Duale is the founding Majority Leader in the National
Assembly, one of the most demanding jobs in the new constitutional
dispensation.
As Majority Leader, the Garissa Township MP will
represent the presidency and the Cabinet by presenting government
business on the floor of the House. It is his responsibility to ensure
that the government agenda goes through the committees of the House.
“The holder of this office has to be a loyalist and an ally of the presidency,” he said.
He will be in charge of the government agenda and
will draw up daily, weekly, monthly and annual schedules of how
government business will be conducted. He will also schedule government
Bills and Motions and determine the order in which they will be
presented on behalf of government.
The importance of the position took shape as a
political carrot and was one of the key negotiating points as party
leaders built pre-election coalitions ahead of the March 4 General
Election.
For instance, it had been agreed before the
election that The National Alliance (TNA) would provide the presidential
candidate and URP the deputy. In Parliament, TNA would nominate the
Speaker and URP the deputy. Also, URP would nominate the Majority Leader
while TNA would bring in the deputy.
Mr Duale will be deputised in his enormous role by fomer Cabinet minister and Taveta MP Naomi Shaaban.
The position of Majority Leader only recently appeared in the
Kenyan political landscape because it is the first time Kenyans
legislators are operating under this system.
Mr Duale explains the role: “I will be the
spokesman of the government in Parliament and marshal support for the
government. I will transmit government sentiments to MPs and transmit
MPs’ sentiments to the government. In order of rank, the office of
Majority Leader is second only to the Speaker.”
The Majority Leader and the Minority Leader will
have priority and more time to speak in the House. He says he has
already set out his priorities.
By Wednesday, he would like to ensure that all the
House committees are in place and ready to begin work. His immediate
priority, he said, is to ensure that all the committees are in place by
Wednesday after which his next task will be to bring to the House the
Bill on the division of revenue between the national and county
governments.
Before the legal deadline of April 30, the
Majority Leader must also receive the Budget Policy Paper from the
Treasury Secretary.
The Garissa Township MP has no delusions about the
magnitude of the task ahead and says he intends to establish a
full-fledged offic with legal counsel, researchers, legal drafters,
legislative policy advisers, budget experts and senior administrators to
co-ordinate with cabinet secretaries and a communications expert.
“This is not for Hon Duale but as the founding
majority leader, I would like to ensure that I set up structures that
can ably serve future majority leaders,” he said. “I will do all within
my powers to ensure that the government agenda in the House is
fast-tracked and sails through within the confines of the Constitution
and the law.”
Mr Duale has Mr Ruto and Mr Kenyatta to thank for his brand of politics.
“I’m a very good student of [Mr] William Ruto. Any
mistakes I make will be Ruto’s mistakes. Any successes will be his
success. He mentored me and counselled me even when I was very low and
he would tell me that there was light at the end of the tunnel,” he
offers.
“I have also been a very good friend of Uhuru’s since 2002 when I was not in politics.
From him I have learnt great lessons about
modesty, honesty and putting the interests of the people first. I’m very
optimistic about this administration.”
The Majority Leader says the Jubilee
administration is keenly aware of the responsibilities of the Opposition
and will only seek a bipartisan approach to issues in the House where
they feel that it would be in the common good of the country.
“I think the President laid it out very well that
he recognises the role of the Opposition. We will keep to that. If you
look at the Standing Orders, for example, they do not require that the
Opposition heads any particular committees but we have committed to let
them lead the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Investments
Committee,” Mr Duale says.
The two committees – PIC and PAC – are branded
Parliament’s watchdog committees and are the ones expected to scrutinise
government expenditure and the investment of public funds across
government agencies.
Specifically, the Public Accounts Committee
examines reports by the Controller and Auditor-General on central
government expenditure and fund accounts while the Public Investments
Committee examines reports by the Auditor-General on accounts of State
corporations.
“We have decided to give the Opposition the chance to keep the government in check,” said Mr Duale.