Karen, Nairobi, Aug 18 — Opposition leader Raila Odinga faced sustained heckling from Members of Parliament on Monday as he sought to clarify the constitutional role of the legislature during a joint Parliamentary Group (PG) meeting in Karen.
The ODM leader, who co-chaired the session with President William Ruto at the KCB Leadership Centre, argued that parliament’s mandate is confined to representation, legislation, and oversight — not project implementation.
“So the work of parliament is representation, legislation, and oversight. It is very clear. It is written there in the constitution. Parliament is not supposed to be implementing. Parliament is supposed to be oversighting,” Odinga explained amid interruptions.
He further stressed that Kenya’s devolved system recognizes only two levels — national and county governments — dismissing claims that constituencies form part of devolution.
“Secondly, there are only two levels of devolution. There is national and one level, county. Constituency is not an element of devolution,” he said, as MPs shouted him down.
Appealing for calm, Odinga pleaded: “Listen to me. Let me say it, and then you will have a chance to come and respond. I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend your right until death. So listen to me.”
The former Prime Minister revisited the historical roots of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), saying it was born of a centralized system that starved grassroots projects of funding, forcing communities to rely heavily on harambee drives.
“In those days, the centralized government had very few resources that went down to the counties. That is why Harambee became a major way of raising resources. Sometimes, you would find nearly 100 cards on your desk for Harambees,” he recounted.
The heated exchanges came during a rare joint PG meeting of UDA and ODM lawmakers, convened to provide direction on implementing the Memorandum of Understanding signed last year between President Ruto and Odinga.
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