Draft bill aims to reduce presidential powers

A two-day seminar for Kenyan legislators, which ended on Tuesday, came up with a draft bill putting parliament in charge of its own affairs and reducing presidential control. In the bill, presidential powers are to be cut further, news organisations reported on Wednesday. "It will prevent the president from dissolving parliament at will," the 'Daily Nation' said. It would also stop the President from summoning parliament when he chooses, "and in effect, controlling the parliamentary calendar". Such issues would be decided by a newly-created Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), answerable to the House and not the president. The commission seeks to make parliament autonomous from the executive and the judiciary.