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{
"id": 1406281,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406281/?format=api",
"text_counter": 207,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 16,
"legal_name": "Farah Maalim Mohamed",
"slug": "farah-maalim"
},
"content": " Next is Hon. (Dr) Oundo, who will be followed by Hon. Stephen Mogaka."
},
{
"id": 1406282,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406282/?format=api",
"text_counter": 208,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Temporary Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to make my contribution to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (Amendment) Bill of 2024. Most likely, it arises from the discussions of NADCO. We stand here today to debate this amendment Bill in the backdrop of some very embarrassing situations in which we found ourselves. The Cherera Four and the Chebukati Wing will forever be a blot to the conscience of this country. They will always be an embarrassing episode and statement on how badly an election can be held. Again, we stand here to debate this Bill when we have had no Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for the past one-and-a-half years. We have areas of representation that have no representation and therefore denying those members the right to be represented and to participate in country’s law-making process. We stand here to debate a Bill when, for the past two elections, the IEBC has routinely refused to allow the opening of servers whenever the Supreme Court has required it to do so for scrutiny. We find ourselves in an election system that might not meet the basic requirements of an electoral system as provided for in the law and the Constitution. That, elections must be fair, verifiable and correctly tallied to assuage the fears of all. 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": 1406283,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406283/?format=api",
"text_counter": 209,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Looking at this Bill, it addresses three fundamental areas. One is the question of the selection panel. Two is the term of the CEO. Number three is the mechanics of delimitation of constituencies and the electoral wards boundaries. Looking at this Bill in totality, we must say it is a progress in the right manner. However, I also want to join my colleagues in saying that it does not go deep enough to address the issues that have been fomenting for many years. I voted for the first time in 1992. I must admit that since then, there have been tremendous changes in the way we conduct our elections. However, the changes have not gone deep enough to make sure that elections are conducted in a credible manner that even if anybody contested it, its determination in a court of law would be seamless, simple and straightforward. The most interesting election that I can remember is the mlolongo system one. On paper and in theory, it was the most transparent election process because we lined up and you could see who had lined up behind your back. However, because of our bad manners – sorry for using those words. Because of our lack of fidelity to the law and adherence to basic morals, we botched the entire process and it became an eye sore and embarrassment to the whole world. There is some tiding up that I must admit is good. A chairman is a chairman. A chairman cannot be a collegial. He is a chairman. He is one individual who must be held responsible for the work he does. He must chair. Our Constitution is very clear when we talk about a commission. The chairman and the Commissioners are independent. The definition that was put in the principal Act envisaged that if there is no chair, the vice-chair can hold the powers of the chair and act. That is a misnomer. We had a tendency in this Parliament that was apparent in the 12th Parliament. I can see it creeping back into this Parliament. Many times, we are in a hurry to please our political masters somewhere and we proceed to make laws that are outrightly unconstitutional and contradictory. When these laws are brought before the courts of law, they are annulled and it is the Members of Parliament who are left embarrassed with red faces as if they do not know what to do. Therefore, we must give ourselves adequate time to look at a Bill and scrutinise it in details. There is no hurry. Whatever we hurry to do will always be annulled and then we will come back to legislate it. Any system that is done must be subjected to auditing. As we sit here today, probably the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) audits its processes and systems and retains that information for its own internal use. The public, who are the main consumers of the electoral process, never know the lapses and the areas that need to be strengthened and rectified. That is one reason why I support the provision that they must audit their processes and systems and publish the report. I want to imagine that immediately after the electoral petitions are completed – by law it is one year – they should release that report. The million-dollar question here is: What happens if the report points out some mistakes that benefited one person and disadvantaged another? What remedy do we give here? Are we opening a Pandora's box or what other remedies are we putting in? For example, if it became apparent – like it has been in the previous years where the votes of Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga were routinely and shamelessly stolen – that a contestant worn elections yet another contestant has already been sworn in as the President and the process at the Supreme Court has been concluded, what do we do? That is why when we enact an Act of Parliament, we must look at posterity. We must look at all the best-case scenarios and the worst-case scenarios and put into place mitigation measures. We have gone for an expanded selection panel on the belief that we do not want to allow any wing of the political process to appoint members of the IEBC. However, we have, again, shifted the process of interviews and transmission of the results of the interview from the selection panel to the President. The President will be given three names to pick the chairperson. That remains intact. It has been proposed that the President will be given nine names and he will be at pleasure to pick seven out of those nine names. I want to tell my coalition members, the National Dialogue Committee group and whoever brought this Bill, that 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": 1406284,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406284/?format=api",
"text_counter": 210,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "if we are going for amendments to address the problem that we have had, let us go to the root cause of the problems and not deal with superficial issues only. There is no way you can deal with the supply chain of drugs to a hospital and you do not deal with doctors who diagnose and dispense the drugs. You will not have solved the problem; you will have only made it easier for the process to move but you will have allowed typical abuse of the process. It is, therefore, important – I want to urge everybody who is concerned – that at the Committee of the whole House stage we open up this Bill for enrichment so that whatever we will give out there as the final document will be something that will solve our problems once and for all. As it is in this Bill, we are only scratching the surface of the problem; we are not solving the problem in detail. Delimitation of electoral units is provided for under Article 89 of the Constitution. This Article was provided for with the appreciation that demographics, migrations, settlement patterns, population densities and economic activities will change. Therefore, it must be given time to be reviewed. The Constitution has set a limit of 290 constituencies. What purpose is this delimitation going to achieve? We will move one clan from this area to another where they will be – as the minorities always complain – lorded over. So, it is time we looked at the Bill in totality. On the face of it, I support the Bill but we will have to do…"
},
{
"id": 1406285,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406285/?format=api",
"text_counter": 211,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 16,
"legal_name": "Farah Maalim Mohamed",
"slug": "farah-maalim"
},
"content": " Hon. Mogaka."
},
{
"id": 1406286,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406286/?format=api",
"text_counter": 212,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "West Mugirango, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Stephen Mogaka",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you so much, Hon. Temporary Speaker for the opportunity to also contribute to this very momentous Bill. At the outset, I support this Bill subject to the Report of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee where you are one of the senior-most Members. I am also privileged to sit in that Committee. As I comment, I want this House to remind itself that this Bill is a negotiated document. As the JLAC Committee, we have endeavoured to give life to this negotiated document to the extent that it will satisfy this country beyond doubt and it will not alter the very substance of the negotiations and the resulting document. It is because of this that I urge Members to avoid bringing drastic changes or amendments to this Bill, lest we get back to where we were and the 13th Parliament will continue to carry the shame of not having the IEBC in place and to an extent, disenfranchising some electoral units that are not represented at the moment. Hon. Temporary Speaker, you will recall that the Bill is an outcome of public participation that was carried out at the Bomas of Kenya. It is a kind of public participation because we had the original negotiating committee which was replaced with the committee which has brought us this Bill. When we, as the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, seized up this legislative proposal, we also conducted parliamentary public participation to ensure that we did not miss a dot or cross on the “t” and the “i” so that ultimately, the document that we roll out of this House will put the 13th Parliament in the annals of history that we gave Kenyans a functioning law. I am also aware that once we are done with it, it will also be taken to the Senate and, therefore, this is a law that is being enacted in a very inclusive manner. One hallmark of the Bill which makes me support it is its enhancement of transparency in our electoral process. One of the ways we are enhancing transparency is by expanding the Commission to that extent that the missing technical value which the Commission had and which culminated in unprecedented number of election petitions is going to be obviated because election is about numbers. Sadly, we have hitherto not had accountants sitting in that Commission. It is with pleasure, Hon. Temporary Speaker, that an amendment is proposed to bring the Institute of Certified Public Accounts of Kenya on board so that questions of numbers will never again be a reason for Kenyans to dispute an election. The other area of dispute has been on the transmission of election results. It is with pleasure that Kenyans need to know that this time round we have ICT gurus in the Commission so that there will be no doubt in anybody’s mind that the result that is properly counted and tallied at the polling station is the same one that is transmitted to where it should be announced. Therefore, Kenyans must be prepared to understand that once an election has been conducted, 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": 1406287,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406287/?format=api",
"text_counter": 213,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "West Mugirango, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Stephen Mogaka",
"speaker": null,
"content": "one will be sure that counting and tallying will be done correctly and correct results transmitted. Therefore, they will go home happy. The expanding of the Commission would at the first sight look like an additional expense to Kenyans. However, we need to look at the kind of election petition costs that this country has been suffering through the IEBC. As an accountant, this country is going to save a lot of money because the IEBC will not be encumbered by countless election petitions. Reduction in election litigation expenses will benefit this country more compared to the two additional commissioners that we are bringing on board. This Bill also introduces very strict timelines by putting in place the law that creates the panel and that binds it to produce their results within a prescribed timeline. It also binds the President of the Republic to appoint the commissioners within the prescribed statutory timeline so that we do not leave anything to chance. From end to end, we have statutory clarity and certainty to ensure that this country shall no longer be held to ransom by any person who fails to appoint their nominee or by any President who may decide to sit on the report of the selection panel. This Bill brings clarity on the definition of a parliamentary party. Common parlance tells us that any political party that has an elected Member is a parliamentary party. This Bill brings clarity so that we do not have a confusion between the law that we are going to use to define a parliamentary party and the Standing Orders which are Parliament specific. Further, Hon. Temporary Speaker, if this law is enacted, Nyamaiya Ward in my constituency, which has been suffering for lack of representation since the Leader of the Majority Party, the late Elijah Osiemo, and may God continue resting his soul in eternal peace, passed on in a road accident, will have a chance to elect his replacement. They are disfranchised and their fundamental right of representation in the County Assembly of Nyamira continues being violated because of lack of a working IEBC. If this Bill is enacted into law, I want the people of Nyamaiya to have a Christmas gift - that they will celebrate Christmas with their member in our County Assembly of Nyamira. Holding brief for my neighbour, Hon. Patrick Osoro, Nyansiong’o Ward, which is also in Nyamira County, does not have an MCA following an election petition. Therefore, they are also unrepresented. Once this Bill is enacted into law, it will give the people of Borabu Constituency, my neighbours, an opportunity to elect an MCA and be represented. I support the Bill and request that everybody supports it and plays their role so that we have the law in place within record time. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
},
{
"id": 1406288,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406288/?format=api",
"text_counter": 214,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 16,
"legal_name": "Farah Maalim Mohamed",
"slug": "farah-maalim"
},
"content": " Hon. Timothy Toroitich, Member of Parliament for Marakwet West. Is he in the House?"
},
{
"id": 1406289,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406289/?format=api",
"text_counter": 215,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Moiben, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Phylis Bartoo",
"speaker": null,
"content": " He is not there, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
},
{
"id": 1406290,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406290/?format=api",
"text_counter": 216,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 16,
"legal_name": "Farah Maalim Mohamed",
"slug": "farah-maalim"
},
"content": " Hon. Phylis Bartoo, Member of Parliament for Moiben. Proceed."
}
]
}