10th Parliament of Kenya

The 10th Parliament of Kenya saw the

• 21 April 2009 - Parliament re-opens. An impasse between the President and the Prime Minister occurred when both presented the Speaker with letters appointing their respective preferred nominees for the position of Leader of Government Business (The Chair of the House Business Committee). The Speaker finally ruled and temporarily appointed himself as the Chair while the impasse is resolved with Odinga withdrawing from the House Business Committee in odds for Kibaki's appointee, Kalonzo Musyoka, to be confirmed leader of Government business.
• 30 April 2009 - Parliament approved the list of the IIEC (
  Interim Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya) that was recommended as a stop gap electoral commission, by the Kriegler Commission
  .
• 7 May 2009 - Parliament approved the list of the IIBRC (Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission of Kenya) that will re-district constituency and district boundaries to be more representative of the population based on current voter registration statistics or the 2009 Census data that was due to be completed in October 2009. However, the controversy that broke out about their recommendations, means that issues about fairness are still to be resolved. On the same day, President Kibaki assented the bill that created the IIEC and formally appointed the IIEC commissioners.
• 12 May 2009 - President Kibaki assented the bill that created the IIBRC and officially appointed the list of commissioners approved by parliament.^[1]
• 7 April 2010 - House passes draft of the proposed constitution of Kenya, prepared by Committee of Experts without any amendments, paving way for a constitutional referendum in which was held in August 2010
• 27 August 2011 - The House passes a record 16 bills in one week, all concerning implementation of the new constitution to keep up with deadlines set out in the fifth schedule of the new constitution. Among them were key bills setting up an Independent Elections and Boundary Review Commission ^[2] and a revamped Anti-Corruption Commission investigation body.^[3]

By-elections

Changes in the makeup of the 10th Parliament

June 2008

Following the election, two ODM MPs—

These five by-elections were held on 11 June 2008.[7] On 10 June, two ministers—Minister of Roads Kipkalya Kones and Assistant Minister of Home Affairs Lorna Laboso, both from ODM—were killed in a plane crash, leaving another two seats vacant^[6] (and reducing ODM to 94 MPs).^{[citation needed]} They had been going to the Rift Valley for the by-elections at the time of the accident.^[6]

Three of the five by-elections were won by the ODM and two by the PNU. The ODM kept its seats in Emuhaya and Ainamoi constituencies; however, it lost the seat in Nairobi's Embakasi Constituency to the PNU. Counting allied parties and MPs, ODM now has 103 MPs and PNU 104 MPs.^[7]

September 2008

By-elections were held in Bomet and Sotik constituencies on 25 September and were won by Beatrice Kones and Joyce Laboso respectively. Both seats were retained by ODM and were won by close relatives of their immediate predecessors, who died in an aviation accident in June: Beatrice Kones is the widow of Kipkalya Kones and Joyce Laboso is the sister of Lorna Laboso.^[8]

August 2009

In May 2009, Parliament approved the formation of a new Electoral body, The Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC), paving the way for by-elections in the constituencies of Shinyalu and Bomachoge, which were held on 27 August 2009. Shinyalu fell vacant when its sitting MP Charles Lugano of ODM died. ODM retained the seat, after Justus Kizito won it at the by-elections. The Bomachoge seat was vacated after the 2007 Elections at the constituency were nullified due to irregularities. The seat was won in 2007 by Joel Onyancha of Ford-People. At the 2007 by-elections Simon Ogari of ODM narrowly beat Onyancha, who was now representing PNU.^[9] For the first time in Kenya, the ballot boxes were transparent.^[10]

June 2010

In December 2009 the High court of Kenya declared the

As of 5 February 2010, the Matuga Constituency MP Chirau Ali Mwakwere (PNU) lost his cabinet and parliamentary seat. This was due to a petition filed by a voter, Mr Ayub Juma Mwakesi, who wanted the election of Mr Mwakwere nullified citing that the entire election process was marred by irregularities. The ruling that nullified Mr Mwakwere's election in the 2007 election was made by High Court Judge, Justice Mohamed Ibrahim.^[13] A subsequent by-election was held on 12 July 2010. Mwakwere retained the seat by beating his closest rival, Hassan Mwanyoha of ODM ^[14]

September 2010

Three parliamentary by-elections were held on 20 September 2011. Margaret Wanjiru (ODM) retained her Starehe Constituency seat beating Maina Kamanda (PNU). The by-election was held after vote recount held in April 2010 indicated that the poll was actually won by Maina Kamanda.