Nairobi Women Representative Esther Passaris on Thursday, February 22 explained her absence in the National Assembly when the controversial Affordable Housing Bill sailed through.
Speaking during an interview with TV 47, Passaris she was attending the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Conference on gender together with Dagoretti North Member of Parliament Beatrice Elachi.
“There is a conference going on right now on gender Beatrice Elachi and I were nominated to be there, we are the host country and we can’t be absent from a big conference where you have other countries represented. Elachi and I were both at the conference happening at the Trademark Hotel,” said Passaris.
The Nairobi Women Rep also noted that the ODM party whip did not mention on the party wall that there was a vote happening in the National Assembly.
"The reason why a political party has a whip is because when you are having a vote going to happen in parliament, your whip is supposed to call all the members or post on the political wall. I am in the ODM wall, there was no mention of hey head, to the house the vote should be happening in the next 10 or 15 minutes," Passaris added.
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She was among the 149 lawmakers who were absent when the house was voting on the Affordable Housing Bill.
The bill sailed through the second reading on Tuesday after 141 MPs from the government side voted in favor against 58.
On Wednesday, the bill passed the third reading in the National Assembly despite opposition MPs storming out of the house in protest.
