The Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo (SAN), says members of the National Assembly cannot stop the selection process of the 774,000 Special Public Works Programme jobs.
He stated that the Joint Committees on Labour of both the Senate and the House tried to “control the programme as to who gets what, where and how”.
The minister insisted that he would not surrender the programme to the lawmakers’ control “since their powers under the constitution does not extend to that”.
He, therefore, directed the state selection committees to proceed with the recruitment process.
Keyamo, in a statement issued after his meeting with the NASS committee ended in a fiasco on Tuesday, said, “There was a misunderstanding between us when they questioned why I did not privately submit the programme to them for vetting before taking certain steps.
“They suggested that they ought to have an input on how the programme should be implemented.
“In other words, they sought to control the programme as to who gets what, where and how.
“However, I insisted that I could not surrender the programme to their control since their powers under the constitution does not extend to that.
Keyamo further stated, “After I left, I understand that the Joint Committees purportedly suspended the work of the selection committees nationwide until they decide how the programme should be run and who should be in those Committees.
“My opinion is that it is tantamount to challenging the powers of Mr President.
“I regret to say that their powers under section 88 of the 1999 Constitution is only limited to investigations, but not to give any directive to the executive.”
