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{
    "id": 716402,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/716402/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 234,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to urge the House to reject this Bill. I want to urge Senators to vote against this Bill if we want to maintain the billing of this House as the “Upper House”, the House of revision and as the House of reference. Looking at this Bill and the report that has been placed before us, I feel a little embarrassed that even after the National Assembly had passed a provision in the law that is clearly unconstitutional, and vesting the authority to approve the process of delimitation of boundaries in themselves when the Constitution is very clear that that is an exclusive role of the IEBC, I would have expected that Clause to be rejected by the Committee. However, what do we see in the Report? Again, it was purely partisan. Six Senators from the CORD voted against that unconstitutional provision while 10 Senators of Jubilee voted to support an unconstitutional provision. These are some of the very simple things that we start with. When you hear some Senators pontificating here about integrity, probity and respect, respect must start with yourself. You should respect your intellect, those who elected you and, above all, the oath you took to defend and protect the Constitution of the Republic of Kenya. When something is under violation by a statute that has been brought before you, because of partisan thinking, whipping and inclination, you simply shout across the Floor that it does not matter. Parliaments do not act like that. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this Bill is dangerous to this country. This Bill is laying a foundation for a possible conflict during elections. This Bill is laying a foundation for a conflict that will be triggered by the discretion given to the people who will conduct elections; who have proved before that they are not capable of managing discretion. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the distinguished Senators of Meru and Siaya led a bipartisan committee and brought us a law here. This law was passed by both Houses. Even Members who agitated for amendments were convinced and whipped to drop those amendments. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this law has not been put into use and here we are running back looking like now we are wiser after the event and creating a mischief that can create problems to the country. There is nobody in this country who is interested in pre or post- election conflicts. We want elections to have integrity. We want the vote every Kenyan casts to count and have meaning to both the caster of the vote and he or she for whom the vote is cast. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are talking about a situation where we are excitedly talking about equipment that will fail that we have not even procured. The tender for procurement of equipment is supposed to be opened on 9th this month. We must be candid to ourselves and to Kenyans. When you go to register as a voter, your biometrics are captured by equipment. It will store your biometrics which will include your finger prints, iris, voice, where necessary, and picture. When you go back to vote, if your thumb The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}