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{
"id": 1404541,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404541/?format=api",
"text_counter": 325,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for acceding to the request to reorder the business on the Order Paper. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to move that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.10 of 2024) be now read a Second Time. Hon. Members will remember that this Bill is one of the consequential amendments or some of the statutory instruments that emanated from the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) Report. The Leader of the Minority Party and myself committed to hasten this process and make sure that all the statutory instruments that relate to the NADCO process are allocated time by the House Business Committee (HBC). The HBC agreed to prioritise consideration of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill. Hon. Temporary Speaker, the Bill seeks to implement some of the recommendations of the NADCO relating to electoral justice and related matters, and in particular the issue of restructuring and reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Both Hon. Members and the entire country are aware that for almost a year, we have been operating without a commission in place. This has left our nation in a very precarious situation of a constitutional crisis that was never anticipated under any circumstances by the drafters of our Constitution. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we are also aware that there was a panel that had been established under the old Act or rather the existing Act. It was mandated to replace the entire Commission whose vacancies fell vacant following the resignation of four commissioners and the ending of the term of three others. That is why I have just said that we are in a very unique situation where we do not have a single commissioner in office. The Constitution recognizes IEBC, not in terms of the secretariat but the commission. Therefore, without it, we cannot carry on with the business of boundaries delimitation, which is a very sensitive matter to the country. We cannot conduct by-elections. We are aware that the people of Banissa Constituency have been waiting for a by-election. Unfortunately, we also have a number of wards where we have lost Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) through death. Therefore, the constituents of those particular wards are also waiting for their by-elections. As a country, we have not been able to conduct them because we do not have a commission in place The passage of this amendment Bill will open the way for establishing or recruiting new commissioners. Reconstitution of IEBC is therefore a matter of national importance. As we are aware, the deadline for review of the boundaries also came and passed without a commission in place. As I mentioned, there is the issue of by-elections that are still pending. The courts have pronounced themselves on the question of whether or not elections should be The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
},
{
"id": 1404542,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404542/?format=api",
"text_counter": 326,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "held and directed the panel that existed to complete its work and put a commission in place. However, through the NADCO process, it is worth recognising that reconstituting of an electoral commission is both a legal and political process. Therefore, we sought to agree within the NADCO on how best we can reconstitute the panel that will recruit new commissioners in a way that will generate the confidence of the majority of Kenyans. We may not satisfy everybody in a such a process but we should, at least, have the views and interests of as many Kenyans as possible represented in the recruitment of new IEBC commissioners. For that reason, we sought to expand the panel that will be recruiting the commissioners. This is what this new Bill seeks to do with the proposed amendments. The Bill seeks to increase the number of members of the selection panel from seven to nine. The current panel has seven as provided for in the current Act. We now seek to amend and expand it to nine members. The purpose is to have a broader representation of different interests in the religious circles, professionals and the political class. The new proposed composition of the section panel will be as follows: 1. Two persons nominated by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). It is explicitly stated that it will represent the Majority Party or coalition of parties and Minority Party or coalition of parties. That is a departure from the previous provision of the Act that we seek to amend because it was never explicit that it would represent both the Majority and Minority Parties or coalition of parties. It is explicit that the Majority and Minority Parties will be represented by two persons who will be nominated by the Parliamentary Service Commission. 2. Three persons nominated by the Political Parties Liaison committee of whom – (a) one person shall be from a party other than a parliamentary party or coalition of parties. We recognise within NADCO that there are many political parties that are not represented in Parliament. Therefore, they are stakeholders in the electoral process, hence they need to have their interests well represented in the Commission. That is why they have one nominee. A case in point is the parties that are sitting in this House today. In the last Parliament, when a panel was constituted, it largely represented two political parties: Jubilee Party and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) was a newly formed political party without representation in the House. Therefore, it never had an opportunity. However, that did not stop it from moving on to win the elections under the commission that was established by ODM and Jubilee Party. We know that ODM and Jubilee Party were in the process of forming the Azimio Coalition at that time. This time, we are recognizing the fact that even newly formed political parties can move on to become big political parties. Today UDA is the largest political party in the country but it was never represented. If any Hon. Member forms a political party in 2026, or the political parties that are not represented in the House or in the Senate today, and do not even have a single elected member even in the county assemblies, they will have an opportunity to be represented in the selection panel that will midwife the process of recruiting commissioners. (b) One person shall be from a parliamentary party or coalition of parties forming the National Government, (the Majority Party) and; (c) One person shall be from a political party or coalition of parties not forming the National Government (from the minority side). (d) One person shall be nominated by the Law society of Kenya (LSK) as the case was in the Act that we seek to amend. (e) One person shall be nominated by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK). This is a new provision, recognising the role of professionals. In the wisdom of the NADCO, they appreciated that election results tallying has a lot to do with technology and summation of numbers. Therefore, who is better to represent the interests of people who The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
},
{
"id": 1404543,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404543/?format=api",
"text_counter": 327,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "can tally numbers other than ICPAK, just like lawyers are represented by LSK. (f) Two persons shall be nominated by the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya (ICK). This, again, is as the case that has been in place, where the ICK had two members nominated to this panel. Further, the Bill proposes amendments to the IEBC Act to provide that the selectin panel shall finalise the recruitment exercise within 90 days of its appointment and forward the names of the nominees to the President. It shall thereafter stand dissolved. Given the urgency of this matter, the prescribed timeline as agreed is geared towards ensuring that the selection panel recruitment process is concluded within the stipulated timeline. The Act that we seek to amend did not provide for a timeline. Kenyans, especially the ones from Banissa Constituency, had to go to court to instigate a closure of the process because under the current Act, the process is open-ended. Until the panel concludes the process, nobody or nothing in law tells them that they must recruit commissioners within a certain period. We are now seeking to amend the law to ensure that it is no longer an open-ended process but is time bound. Therefore, once this Bill becomes an Act of Parliament and the panel is constituted, it must recruit commissioners within 90 days. They will take office and begin the work of either conducting by-elections or preparing for the next general election, and the very important process of boundaries delimitation ahead of time. We are cognisant, even within NADCO, of the need, as recommended by the Kriegler Commission, not to have boundaries delimited very close to a general election or to have very many electoral reforms and changes in the electoral processes very close to elections. This provision seeks to address that concern."
},
{
"id": 1404544,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404544/?format=api",
"text_counter": 328,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "It is also noteworthy that the Bill contains a transition clause to provide that the selection panel existing immediately at the commencement date of the Act shall cease to exist. However, a person who served as a member of the selection panel may be nominated to serve as a member of the selection panel appointed under the new Act. In this regard, any of the existing panel members may still be nominated in the new selection panel once the Bill is enacted into law. We also appreciated that the panel has already done some work. They had called for people to apply for the jobs and there is already work that had been done that is yet to be concluded. We also sought, as a matter of creating some transitional mechanism, to accommodate the nominating bodies, for instance, the Parliamentary Service Commission, the Law Society of Kenya, the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya and those that had already had representation in the selection panel. If they wish to renominate the same people, there is nothing within this law that stops them from renominating or reappointing the same people. Those names will eventually come before the House to agree or disagree with the nominating bodies."
},
{
"id": 1404545,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404545/?format=api",
"text_counter": 329,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The Bill further proposes amendments to Section 6 of the IEBC Act to include experience in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and accounting as professional qualifications for appointment as a member of the IEBC. Members will agree with us that these thematic areas align, as I mentioned, with the function of IEBC and hence form a basis for qualifications for appointment as an IEBC commissioner. As I mentioned, we have seen commissioners in the past who may not have all the requisite skills and knowledge on matters of ICT. Our electoral process is largely technology-driven. We found it necessary to have commissioners with requisite knowledge in matters ICT and accounting. I must take this opportunity to state that I am an accountant, although that had nothing to do with the recommendations of the Committee, where Hon. Opiyo Wandayi also sat in as a budding young lawyer. They were well represented. I know it is a requirement that the chairman of the Commission be a lawyer. There was a back and forth within NADCO. Many people who made presentations before NADCO argued for the need for requisite skills in ICT and accounting so that we do not fight about tallying. Tallying is a summation of The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
},
{
"id": 1404546,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404546/?format=api",
"text_counter": 330,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "numbers. One plus one is two and can never be three. We need accountants to ascertain that one plus one is always two and not three. Lawyers can argue that one plus one is not necessarily two and that it could be three. They would find a clever way of arguing that one plus one is three. Accountants are factual. I am not just speaking for accountants, but also ICT experts, because transmission of election results is one of the very sticky issues. We want that comfort in future elections. When results are transmitted, we do not want to hear lawyers arguing in court whether a PDF is something you can hijack somewhere in between the transmission area from your constituency or sub-county headquarters to Bomas of Kenya. We want commissioners who understand what a PDF or JPEG document is and how possible it is to manipulate the documents. When people demand servers to be opened, we need commissioners who understand what the servers are. That is why, in the wisdom of NADCO, we found it necessary to have that amendment."
},
{
"id": 1404547,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404547/?format=api",
"text_counter": 331,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I do not want to belabour everything because I want to allow Members to contribute well ahead of time, but let me ask all of us to support this as among NADCO statutory instruments under the report that we adopted in this House and the Senate. We have committed between ourselves and the leadership of the Minority Party to hasten the process of ensuring that all the NADCO statutory instruments are debated and agreed on by both Houses for full implementation. I do not need to belabour the importance of IEBC being put in place."
},
{
"id": 1404548,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404548/?format=api",
"text_counter": 332,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, with those many remarks, I pray for the support of Hon. Members in this process of adopting the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.10 of 2024). I request the Leader of the Minority Party to second. Thank you."
},
{
"id": 1404549,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404549/?format=api",
"text_counter": 333,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ugunja, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Opiyo Wandayi",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to second this Bill. I want to thank my good friend, the Deputy Minority Whip, who was on standby to perform this onerous task in my absence. Now that I am back, I have taken charge."
},
{
"id": 1404550,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1404550/?format=api",
"text_counter": 334,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ugunja, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Opiyo Wandayi",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Let me start by saying that this is the first NADCO Bill to get to the Second Reading stage. As you will recall, NADCO produced a total of nine Bills. So, from the very outset, we should support and pass this Bill like yesterday. Hon. Members, as you are seated here, you are forgetting Banissa Constituency in Mandera County has gone without a Member of Parliament for now more than a year because there is no functioning IEBC in place. Hon. Members, this is such a serious matter that we cannot afford to be oblivious to. Therefore, the passage of this Bill must be hastened if only to address the constitutional requirement of equal representation in this country."
}
]
}