Omtatah ejected from Senate, barred for three days over Ruto ‘yapping’ remarks

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 10 — Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah was on Thursday ejected from the Senate and barred from attending its sittings for three days after refusing to withdraw remarks describing President William Ruto as “yapping.”

Omtatah protested the Speaker’s directive, arguing that the word was neither unparliamentary nor disrespectful, but a permissible description of what he considered excessive political communication by the President.

“Yapping is not unparliamentary. Go and check the record of the Westminster Parliament,” Omtatah said as he sought to defend his remarks.

He also warned Speaker Amason Kingi against what he termed a “slippery slope” in limiting debate in the House.

Kingi, however, cut him short, saying Omtatah was engaging the Chair instead of complying with an earlier ruling requiring him to withdraw the word.

“I order you to leave the chamber for three sitting days consecutively. You may leave now,” Kingi ruled.

The Speaker warned that failure to comply would result in the intervention of the Sergeant-at-Arms and a longer exclusion from the chamber.

“Don’t make me direct the Sergeant-at-Arms to come for you, because then that will amount to 90 days. Let’s observe decorum,” Kingi said.

The confrontation followed a ruling made during the previous sitting in which the temporary Speaker determined that “yapping” was unparliamentary and ordered Omtatah to withdraw it.

The withdrawal was not completed after Senator Mohamed Faki raised the issue of quorum, prompting the Senate to adjourn. The matter returned to the floor on Thursday when Omtatah was given another opportunity to comply.

Instead, Omtatah sought to explain and defend his use of the word, leading to the exchange with the Chair.

Kingi said the temporary Speaker’s ruling could not be reviewed and that his role was to enforce the Senate Standing Orders.

“A determination was made yesterday by the temporary Speaker that the word ‘yapping’ is unparliamentary. I cannot review that ruling,” Kingi said.

He rejected arguments that the remarks had been made when the Senate lacked quorum, saying the issue was only raised after Omtatah had been ordered to withdraw the word.

“The words were uttered when the Senate was properly constituted and the proceedings were legal,” Kingi said.

The Speaker said senators were required to respect the Standing Orders they had adopted.

“You may not respect me, but respect the Standing Orders that you yourself took part in formulating and adopting,” Kingi said.

The suspension drew concern from some senators, who urged the Speaker to reconsider the punishment.

Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’ said he was not defending Omtatah but questioned whether remarks made when the House had no quorum should attract disciplinary action.

He warned that suspending a senator effectively leaves the senator’s county without representation in the Senate during the period of exclusion.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale also defended Omtatah, arguing that “yapping” simply meant talking too much and could be interpreted as an opinion rather than an insult.

“Being an opinion, if we are going to start punishing senators for their opinions in this House, it means we are breaching the doctrine of freedom of speech in this House,” Khalwale said.

Khalwale questioned whether “yapping” was inherently unparliamentary or whether its use in reference to the President was what made it objectionable.

Kingi maintained that the matter had already been settled by the previous ruling and said senators could seek amendments to the Standing Orders if they believed the rules restricted their freedom of speech.

“These are not cast in stone. We can review them to conform to the comfort that you dearly hold,” he said.