BY MANUEL ODENY
Nyanza region has produced three MPs among 19 who have never spoken in parliament according to a Parliamentary scorecard by Mzalendo which analysed parliament debates in the year 2024.
Mzalendo is a Kenyan non-partisan Parliamentary Monitoring Organisation (PMO) that promotes open, inclusive and accountable Parliaments across Kenya and Africa.
According to the scorecard, Migori has two MPs while the Kisii region has one.
Of the 19 listed, the UDA party led with 10 MPs, the ODM party had four members, ANC had two, Wiper had one, DAP-K one and Jubilee party one.
In Nyanza Rongo MP Paul Abuor (ODM) and Kuria West MP Mathia Nyamabe (UDA who are both saving their second and third terms respectively, have made it to the list for the umpteen time.
Borabu MP Patrick Osero (ODM) also makes it in the list.
READ MORE: Not bothered, my Rongo development record is topnotch- Abuor on Mzalendo list of 19 silent MPs
Mzalendo noted that the MPs were least vocal in expressing public/ constituent views and debating issues of local and national importance, which as representatives is one of the core and vital mandates of parliamentarians.
The performance was exclusively determined by the number of times individual MPs speak in Parliament (speech counts) and as captured in the Parliamentary Hansard, the official Parliamentary record.
“Upon collation of all the Hansards for a particular session a calendar year from February to December-the speech counts for each member are generated by Mzalendo’s word-scraper which captures the speech frequencies based on the Hansard entries,” Mzalendo said.
“To ensure that we only rank based on substantive contributions, we also do a manual verification of the Hansard entries to ascertain the automatically generated counts. The information is also automatically generated on our website in a cumulative manner.”
The rankings cover only plenary proceedings, whose information is readily available to the public. “Information on committees’ proceedings is not as readily available. The limited access thus makes it hard to incorporate them into the rankings,” Mzalendo stated in its report.
Here is the complete list:
- Oscar Sudi – Kapseret (UDA)
- Paul Abuor – Rongo(ODM)
- Irene Kasalu – Kitui (Wiper)
- Charles Gimose Gumini – Hamisi (ANC)
- Joseph Tonui Kipkosgei – Kuresoi South (UDA)
- Mathias Nyamabe – Kuria West (UDA)
- Samuel Kinuthia Gachobe – Subukia (UDA)
- Patrick Barasa Simiyu – Cherangany (DAP-k)
- Paul Chebor Kibet – Rongai (UDA)
- Denar Joseph Hamisi – Nominated (ANC)
- Joseph Wanaina – Nominated (UDA)
- Stephen Karani Wachira – Laikipia West (UDA)
- Mohamed Soud Machele- Mvita (ODM)
- Irene Njoki – Bahati (Jubilee Party)
- Alfred Mutai – Kuresoi North (UDA)
- Patrick Osero – Borabu (ODM)
- Clement Sloya – Sabatia (UDA)
- Barre Hussein Abdi – Tarbaj (UDA)
- George Aladwa – Makadara (ODM)
Hello
The Three musketeers from Nyanza have their selfish interests at heart with no regard to the employer, the voter. In Borabu, Nyamira there’s little to show for the 2-year stint in office. Mhesh Osero cannot and will not fight for the needs and wants of the Borabu people. I’ve never heard where he speak in Kiswahili or English. I suspect he has a language challenge whether sober or inabrieted
No single road
No single new classroom
No single electricity connection
No transparency in bursary issuance
Meaning…..gross under-representation.
I won’t be surprised if he does the whole 5-year stretch without ever uttering a word in parliament.