The government has withdrawn the controversial Livestock Bill 2024 which sought to create a new authority to register farmers and regulate inputs and products of all livestock.
During the Thursday session, the National Assembly accepted the withdrawal motion by the bill’s sponsor, Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa.Ichung’wa said the bill would be spent back to the State Department of Livestock for “further public participation.”In addition to the stiff fines livestock farmers would have faced, the bill’s timing also brought into question the government’s commitment to public participation, as well as austerity and wage burden reduction.
“The responsibility lies with the ministries to actively engage the public in discussions about proposed legislation, fostering transparency and understanding. By doing so, they can build public trust and ensure that the laws reflect the needs and aspirations of the people,” Ichung’wa said in Parliament.
The executive normally pushes its bills through the Majority Leader and ruling party MPs, who then propose and advocate for them on the floor of parliament. The decision to withdraw the bill and send it back to the Ministry may also be seen as way of avoiding ongoing public criticism that Parliament has become a rubber-stamp for the Executive.
The National Assembly has been under the spotlight for passing the executive’s proposals unchanged, not facilitating sufficient public participation, and for not performing its oversight role as expected. In addition to the Livestock Bill, public protests have led to the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024, a preemptive withdrawal of a controversial amendment to land laws, and to the current stalemate over the Conflict of Interest Bill that had already been passed by the Senate.