National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and his Senate counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen on Tuesday were involved in a bitter exchange of words over the Health Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
The two took to Twitter where they traded barbs over the legality of the contentious Bill which was signed into law by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday.
Duale fired the first salvo terming Murkomen as ‘hypocritical’ for challenging the assenting of the Bill by the President.
“Never mind yesterday media was awash with pictures of Senator @kipmurkomen standing next to the President assenting to the same Bill which he is now challenging how it was processed by the @NAssemblyKE. This is pure hypocrisy and one which requires to be treated with contempt!”Duale tweeted.
The Bill was passed by the National Assembly in December last year but was returned with Uhuru’s reservations on some clauses of the Bill on December 30 for reconsideration by Parliament in terms of Article 115 of the Constitution.
Article 110 of the Constitution is clear that the Senate only considers Bills concerning county governments.That Senator Murkomen does not know this is not only economical with truth but generous with falsehoods!
The August House thereafter considered the reservations and approved the Bill on February 28, 2019.
The Garissa Town MP wondered why Murkomen waited until the Bill was assented to raise concerns on the nature of the Bill and why he never shared his reservations with the House speaker.