HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1608389,
"next": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=147649",
"previous": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=147647",
"results": [
{
"id": 1494672,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494672/?format=api",
"text_counter": 389,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Putting of the question on the Motion deferred)"
},
{
"id": 1494673,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494673/?format=api",
"text_counter": 390,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Abdul Haji",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Senators, I will further rearrange the Order Paper, so that we go to Order No.25. Clerk, please call it out."
},
{
"id": 1494674,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494674/?format=api",
"text_counter": 391,
"type": "heading",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "BILL"
},
{
"id": 1494675,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494675/?format=api",
"text_counter": 392,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Second Reading"
},
{
"id": 1494676,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494676/?format=api",
"text_counter": 393,
"type": "heading",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "THE ELECTIONS (AMENDMENT) (NO. 2) BILL (SENATE BILLS NO.29 OF 2024)"
},
{
"id": 1494677,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494677/?format=api",
"text_counter": 394,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Abdul Haji",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Senate Majority Leader, proceed."
},
{
"id": 1494678,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494678/?format=api",
"text_counter": 395,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the Elections (Amendment) (No.2) Bill (Senate Bills No.29 of 2024) be now read a Second Time. This is a very interesting legislation. I have been at the Bomas of Kenya in 2013, 2017, and 2022 either as a party operative or candidate who had been declared to follow up on the presidential election. This is a culmination of all the agitation that we normally get at the Bomas of Kenya. If you follow through our electoral process, immediately after Members of Parliament (MPs), MCAs, governors, and Senators have been announced, we all troop to The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
},
{
"id": 1494679,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494679/?format=api",
"text_counter": 396,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "the Bomas of Kenya, where for the next one week the whole country comes to a standstill. That is a barbaric behaviour. It is really unfortunate. I am speaking like this because we just watched elections in a first world country. Elections were held where more than 130 million people voted. After about five hours, you could get an indication of who took the lead. In fact, if you have an interesting candidate like the President-elect of the United States of America (USA), he did not even wait for other states to declare their results. Once it became apparent that he was going to garner the magical 270 electoral college votes, he went ahead and gave his victory speech. The losing candidate also held back for a while. Eventually, in less than 24 hours after the election, she gave her concession speech and life moved on. In even more advanced democracies because a few months ago, I was in the United Kingdom (UK) when they were voting, even on the election day, you could hardly tell that there was any ongoing electoral process. This intense litigation, agitation and fights that we have at the Bomas of Kenya are all a product of a trust deficit. The many legislations that we have passed here over the years in this House, most of the time just a few days before election, are to address some of these fears. One of the things I must appreciate about this Bill that came out of--- Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I must, first, declare that this is one of the so-called National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) Bills that came out of a negotiated dialogue process at the Bomas of Kenya, where yours truly was part and parcel of the team that sat there. We had representation from Azimio la Umoja One-Kenya Coalition and Kenya Kwanza Coalition. There are many issues that Kenyans raised about our electoral processes when they came and made presentations before us. You will listen to some of the proposals. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, listening to some of the proposed amendments that are being added into our election laws, if we are not careful, our election law book may end up being the largest in the world very soon. This caused by the principle of putting in writing the minutest of procedures; things that are obvious to other countries. However, given that we are an extremely litigious country and our Judiciary does not help our cause because they agree with people that consider nuisance litigants by raising issues that are so mundane, we ended up litigating on every minute details of our electoral processes. In other countries, they are not things that people argue about. In typical fashion of our Judiciary, sometimes they agree with them that it is not written in law or our Constitution and therefore the petition succeeds. However, given that this is our home and we do not have another home, we have to learn to live with each other. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are about 39 Clauses in this Bill addressing many of the issues that have been of concern to Kenyans. As we read and give proposals to Bill, I hope the House will agree with us and put this in legislation. The last thing I appreciate about the genius of this legislation before I get into the details of the Bill is that in all other elections from 2017 and 2022, we have fought in this House while trying to amend election laws a few months to election time. If you read part of our election management processes, what forms the basis of many of the electoral processes is the so-called Kriegler and Waki Report that came up after the disputed 2007 Elections. One of the quoted phrases and recommendations in that The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
},
{
"id": 1494680,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494680/?format=api",
"text_counter": 397,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "report is the fact that the Parliament was indicted for changing electoral management processes laws a few months to the electoral cycle; and that, we do deals last minute that make it impossible or difficult for election managers to conduct elections to the satisfaction of the country. You know very well that we have the highest standard of election expectation in comparison with the rest of the world. We expect a near-perfect process, let alone the fact that it is run by human beings, who many a times enter these results deep in the night, having not slept for more than three hours. However, we argue none the same. It is important to note that this time we have made the decision to make these laws more than three years before a general election. That is quite commendable because it means that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will have sufficient time to acquaint themselves with all the provisions of our laws as they prepare to take the country to an election. They will have learnt all our expectations, unlike has been the case previously where we have amended election laws two or three months before an election. Subsequently, after that election, we have gone ahead to fight and ask the IEBC why they did not do certain things, ignoring the obvious and basic fact that they did not have sufficient time to prepare. Let me get into the provisions of the Bill. Clause 2 of this Bill proposes to amend Section 2 of the Election Act, 2011 by providing a new definition of the term “nomination”. Remember what I mentioned earlier, that we argue even on some of the basic things. That instead of just prescribing and saying that you need a Kenyan passport to vote, we want to propose it further and say that it must be valid and be put it in law. I do not think there is any other country you will find this in their legislation. However, this is Kenya and I have given a good history of how we find ourselves with these kinds of arguments. We therefore want to make it clear in black and white that if you are using your passport as your primary tool of identification, then it must be valid. That is rather too obvious for me, but that is who we are as a people. Let us proceed. Clause 3 of the Bill is an amendment to Section 5 of the principal Act, which provides for registration of the voters at a point where there is a by-election. That is another very--- I lack the proper English vocabulary to explain this, but we have to do it anyway. Like I have said, this is Kenya. I am not sure if Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale has sufficient vocabulary for this as well. Neither does my good friend, Sen. Crystal. When there is a by-election, we freeze the registration of voters in that electoral area. That is part of our election regulations, but there was the feeling that you must make it an issue of statute and not just a regulation. People should know that anytime there is a proposed by-election in a certain area, you freeze registration of voters in that region to provide clarity. Listen to this, Sen. Crystal. That the restriction is only in the geographical area where that by-election is to take place. That is Kenya for you. Clause 3A provides that a person who registers as a voter during the period when registration of voters is suspended for the purposes of a by-election as contemplated under subsection 1 (b) shall not be eligible to contest in electoral area affected by the by-election. Clause 4 of the Bill seeks to amend Section 6 of the principal Act, which provides for inspection of the Register of Voters. We are deleting subsection (1) and (2) and The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
},
{
"id": 1494681,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494681/?format=api",
"text_counter": 398,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "substituting them with new subsections providing for the inspection of the Register of Voters by members of the public and rectification of particulars of voters, as well as exceptions when IEBC shall not be expected to rectify the particulars of the voters. This is the usual process where they normally pin the list of registered voters in a particular polling station for clarity purposes. I have pointed earlier that some of these things are either definition or going deeper into the law to make it more appealing."
}
]
}