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Murkomen, Duale tear into each other on Twitter over “dead” Parliament

By Amina Wako April 14th, 2020 2 min read

National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale and his senate counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen tore into each other on twitter on Monday over the roles of the two houses.

It all started when Murkomen replied to an article by The Standard that labeled Kenyan politicians as traitors for abandoning Kenyans during Covid-19 pandemic.

“For the 1st time, Standard has boldly called out my colleague Sen. Moi and his bro. I hope they were quoted in the story. I can however confirm that Parliament is DEAD. It’s an extension of Executive, and the opposition is causing stampede trying to be more government than the government itself,” Murkomen Tweeted.

But Duale, defending the National Assembly, said the MPs have been working and asked the Elgeyo Marakwet senator Murkomen to specify which particular House he was referring to.

“Well, Senator Kipchumba, please be specific because unless you mean Senate is ‘DEAD’ or ‘DIED ALONG TIME AGO,’ the @NAssemblyKE is alive and doing what it knows best, that is resolving issues of concern of the people of Kenya,” Duale retorted.

The Garissa Town MP further shared what the National Assembly intended to discuss when it resumes siitings from a break on Tuesday afternoon.

“Just to be specific tomorrow, among other urgent priority business, we will get to discuss tax measures aimed at cushioning Kenyans, among them the reduction of VAT & PAYE, the Supp. Budget, Estimates & Tax laws amendment bill that shall ensure we have the resources to fight the Pandemic,” Duale added.

However, Murkomen persisted calling Parliament a puppet and accused him of lying to Kenyans as MPs were only going to rubber stamp decisions of the Executive.

“Bro, you are going there to rubber-stamp Executive decisions. Don’t lie to Kenyans. Let’s return Parliament to what it ought to be, not a puppet,” Murkomen tweeted.

The two ruling Jubilee Party leaders in the two assemblies went at it for the better part of Monday as other twitters users either joined in the debate or rebuked them.

“If we return Parliament to be the Independent institution anticipated in the 2010 Constitution, then we shall be of help to our Jubilee in governing the country better and give greater benefit to the people. If we continue this way, history will judge us harshly,” the senator further added.