What is a Petition

A petition is a written prayer to the Assembly by a member of the public requesting the Assembly to consider any matter within its authority, including enacting, amending or repealing any legislation.

Who can Petition the Assembly?

Section 15 of the County Governments Act, 2012 provides for the right for any person to petition the County Assembly. Any person, groups of people or an organization has the right to petition Assembly through the Office of the Clerk.

If satisfied that the petition meets the necessary requirements, the Clerk forwards the petition to the Speaker for tabling in the Assembly and subsequent committal to the relevant Committee.

Requirements for Consideration of a Petition

A petition shall be in the form set out under the Murang’a County Assembly Standing Orders as follows:

1. Must be handwritten, printed or typed;

2. Must be in English or Kiswahili and be written in respectful, decorous and template language;

3. Must be free of alterations and interlineations in its text;

4. Must be addressed to the Assembly;

5. Must have its subject-matter indicated on every sheet if it consists of more than one sheet;

6. Must indicate whether any efforts have been made to have the matter addressed by the relevant body and whether there has been any response from that body or whether the response has been unsatisfactory;

7. Must indicate whether the issues in respect of which the petition is made are pending before any court of law or other constitutional or legal body;

8. Must conclude with a clear, proper and respectful prayer, reciting the definite object of the petitioner or petitioners in regard to the matter to which it relates;

9. Must contain the names, addresses, identification numbers written directly onto the petition and not pasted thereon or otherwise transferred to it;

10. Must not have any letters, affidavits or other documents annexed to it unless the petition relates to a Bill.

11. In case of a petition presented by a Member on behalf of a petitioner, the petition must be counter signed by the Member presenting it and signed by the petitioner or if the petitioner is unable to sign, by a witness in whose presence the petitioner shall make his or her mark on the petition.

Duration for Consideration of Petitions

Whether a petition is committed to a Sectoral Committee, the Committee shall, in not more than Sixty calendar days from the time of committal respond to the petitioner by way of a report addressed to the petitioner or petitioners and laid on the table of the Assembly and no debate on or in relation to the report shall be allowed, but the Speaker may, in exceptional circumstances, allow comments or observations in relation to the petitions for not more than twenty minutes.

A submission to a Committee of County Assembly is one way of making your voice heard in Assembly. By making a submission, you have an opportunity to influence the opinion of Members of a Committee who are discussing and debating a particular piece of legislation before it is finalized.
The first step is usually to make a written submission to a Committee. Members of that particular Committee will go through all the written submissions received from members of the public or interested organizations and then, based on the written submissions, may decide to invite some to appear before the Committee to explain their written submission. That is called an oral submission.
County Assembly Committees, through advertisements, often invite members of the public to make written submissions when they are considering a particular matter. The relevant contact details will be contained in the invitation for submissions.

A Notice Of Motion is a formal notification to one or more parties that the named party has files a motion that involving them in a lawsuit before a court which will be heard on the stated date. A notice of motion sets out the words of a motion and is normally required to be given at least one day before the notice is moved unless standing sessional orders provide otherwise.

A motions is a proposal moved by a member calling on the house to order something to be done or to express an opinion with regard to some matter.