The 9th Parliament of the Republic of

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

was opened by elected President

Mwai Kibaki Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki (15 November 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013 and is regarded as one of Kenya's founding fathers. He had previously ser ...

on February 18, 2003. It was the first time that the formerly-dominant

Kenya African National Union The Kenya African National Union (KANU) is a Kenyan political party that ruled for nearly 40 years after Kenya's independence from British colonial rule in 1963 until its electoral loss in 2002. It was known as Kenya African Union (KAU) from 194 ...

Daniel arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He was the country's longest-serving president. Moi previously served as the third vice ...

was in the minority. The triumphant NARC (a coalition of the

National Alliance Party of Kenya The National Alliance (TNA) was a political party in Kenya. It took on its current identity when Uhuru Kenyatta assumed control and renamed it as the vehicle for his 2012 presidential campaign. History The National Alliance was founded as the N ...

and Liberal Democratic Party), which dominated in the general elections of 2002 was in the majority, led by Kibaki. However, after the 2005 constitutional referendum, Kibaki threw out the LDP members from his Cabinet, at which point the LDP left NARC and formed the

Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

in coalition with

Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. Kenyatta was chosen by Daniel Arap Moi as his preferred successor, but Kenyatta was defeated by opposition le ...

's KANU party. In 2007, KANU left the coalition and mostly joined with Kibaki's new Party of National Unity, although some of its members stayed with the ODM-Kenya. The original NARC, now headed by

Charity Ngilu Charity Kaluki Ngilu (born 28 January 1952) is a Kenyan politician and the second governor elected for Kitui County. She unsuccessfully vied to be President of the Republic of Kenya in 1997. She served as Minister for Health from 2003 until 200 ...

, allied itself with the ODM-Kenya, which also split into two parties, one ODM led by

Raila Odinga Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...

and the other ODM-Kenya by

Kalonzo Musyoka Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka (born 24 December 195is a Kenyan politician who was the tenth Vice-President of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. Musyoka served in the government under the late President Daniel arap Moi and was List of Foreign Ministers of Ke ...

. The major contestants for the presidential elections were

of the PNU coalition,

of ODM and

of ODM-Kenya.

Composition

The 9th Parliament was composed of the following members from these political parties below: NARC had 125, of whom 64 would later align themselves with PNU, whilst the 61 who did not (many of whom were elected as LDP MPs), would later align themselves with either ODM or ODM-Kenya. Ford-People had 14 elected legislators, with

Safina Safina ( in Swahili) is a political party in Kenya, founded by palaeoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey together with lawyer Paul Muite. History In May 1995, Richard Leakey joined some Kenyan intellectuals in launching a new po ...

, FORD-Asili,

Sisi Kwa Sisi The Sisi Kwa Sisi is a political party in Kenya. Sisi Kwa Sisi means "all of us" or "together as one" (literally "us for us") in Swahili. At the last legislative elections, 27 December 2002, the party won 2 out of 212 elected seats. At the Kenyan ...

getting 2 members each. Finally the Shirikisho Party of Kenya had one member bringing the total to 209 members of Parliament.

Performance

Many Kenyans had a lot of expectations of changes to be effected by this parliament. In the inaugural speech President Mwai Kibaki, said that the 9th parliament heralded Kenya's long-awaited second liberation and promised their total commitment to tackle and eliminate corruption and ensure good governance. The 9th Parliament has come under scrutiny and have been criticized for many failings. According to a report from Mars Group Kenya which is a type of watch dog to create awareness and accountability from Kenya's leadership, this parliament started by increasing their own remuneration and other allowances to become the most expensive parliament in the history of Kenya with an annual budget of over USD$57 million. This parliament also failed to show leadership in the follow-up of the November 2005 Referendum on the Draft Constitution. They will go in history as the only parliament that never made any constitutional input in their 5 years tenure. A Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill introduced in August 2007 by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs

Martha Karua Martha Wangari Karua (; born 22 September 1957) is a Kenyan politician. She is a former long-standing member of parliament for Gichugu Constituency and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She was Minister for Justice until resigning fro ...

didn't garner the necessary votes due to issues of women representation. This parliament also failed to look onto the issue of boundary review which had been recommended by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) to increase the representation with at least 40 new constituencies. In 2007 they introduced a media bill which was looked upon as attempts to gag the media. They also attempted to reduce the powers of the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC). Their poor record of attendance was evident in the number of statutes that they were able to pass during their term. They passed 67 bills about 13 bills a year, a dismal record in comparison with what other parliaments achieve like the

South African parliament The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...

which passes over 40 statutes a year. They were many issues pertaining to poor management of resources and funds under their control through the newly introduced CDF and failure in taking decisive action against illegal charges on the Consolidated Fund which involved fraudulent payments to phantom projects not undertaken like the

Anglo Leasing The Anglo Leasing scandal was a government procurement facilitated corruption scandal in Kenya. Origins The scandal is alleged to have started when the Kenyan Government wanted to replace its passport printing system, in 1997, but came to light ...

and the Ken Ren Fertilizer project. However the 9th parliament passed some relevant and good bills such as the establishment of

Constituency Development Fund Constituency Development Funds (CDFs) are central government funds given to members of parliament for expenditure on their constituencies, also called electoral districts. CDFs were first adopted in India. After introduction in Kenya in 2003, CDFs ...

(CDF) and its increment in funding,

Sexual offences Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

bill moved by Njoki Ndungu, privatization authority, the insurance regulatory authority, and number of funding and regulating authorities just to mention a few. The 9th Parliament was dissolved on October 22, 2007 in order to prepare for the parliamentary and presidential elections that year. It was succeeded by the

10th Kenyan Parliament The 10th Parliament of Kenya saw the National Assembly opened on 15 January 2008. This following the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of Raila Odinga winning a majority in the 2007 parliamentary elections. Raila was a candidate in the presidential ...

in January 2008.

References

{{Reflist

Composition

Performance

References

See also