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"content": "(Hon. Wanami Wamboka spoke off the record)"
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"id": 1569503,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569503/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Martha Wangari",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
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"content": " Hon. Owen is confused today between Tigania and Tharaka, and also between Murungaru and Murugara. It is Hon. George Murugara, Member for Tharaka."
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"id": 1569504,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Martha Wangari",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you."
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
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"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Allow me to second the Political Parties (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill (Senate Bill No. 26 of 2024), from the Senate. It has been ably moved by the Deputy Leader of the Majority Party, and from his speech, Members have learnt what this Bill is all about. For those who may not have fully captured the speech, please note that we have the Report of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, which was tabled in this House last week during the consideration of the Bill. We went clause by clause giving justification of each clause, and its compliance with the Constitution as required. The Report is elaborate. I urge Members to obtain copies and especially look at public participation under Article 118 of the Constitution where members of the public, stakeholders and interest groups came before us and made their representations, which were put into consideration in this Bill. We may not have agreed with some of the proposals that were being made, but it is important to point out that we agreed with some of the proposals that require amendment of certain clauses in the Bill. We have made proposals on this in our Report. It is a schedule of amendments that is annexed to the Bill so that we can harmonise the proposals in the Bill, with what came out from the public during public participation. We must emphasise the importance of public participation. This is where everybody who has an interest comes to voice that interest to the betterment of the laws that are being enacted for the benefit of the country. We have a schedule that will appear when we go to the Committee of the Whole House, with those proposals and the justifications. We will move that this House either adopts or rejects, depending on how the House will take the proposals. Very quickly, I will go through the proposed Bill so that everybody, including Kenyans, know what we are doing here this late afternoon or towards this evening. First and foremost, it is important to note that we are undertaking a fundamental step, which is to replace the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) with a commission. This commission will be known as the Independent Political Parties Regulatory Commission. It is a statutory commission and not a constitutional commission. That means its independence is derived from a statute. Therefore, if any of its Act contradicts the Constitution, those Acts are likely to be declared unconstitutional because it is not a constitutional commission. It is established under the Political Parties Act which we are now amending. The first several clauses of the Bill proposed are purely to align the office to the commission such that where the ORPP appears, we replace that with the commission. We have also defined the word commission so that anybody who does not know which commission we are talking about here can know that it is the Independent Political Parties Regulatory Commission which we are establishing under the new section 33 that is being introduced in the Act. 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."
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"id": 1569506,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569506/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
"speaker": null,
"content": "What is this commission all about? This is clause 7 of the Bill which seeks to amend section 33 by repealing the entire old section 33 and introducing a new section 33, and more sections that will follow to establish this commission. As I have said, it is purely an independent commission established by a statute. When it is independent, it means that it cannot be interfered with by anybody, unless where it has conducted itself in a manner that is unconstitutional. Most of these constitutional matters are declarations by the court and seldom by this House; not by anybody else. The first provision is the powers it has under Section 33. Section 33A are functions. It has the power of perpetual succession, therefore, it can sue, be sued, can acquire property and succeed itself from time to time. The functions of the Independent Political Parties Regulatory Commission are set out in the new proposed Section 33A. They run from (a) to (n). We have a new Section 33B which is on the membership of the Commission, which the mover elaborated on. It shall have five members, all of whom will be nominated as proposed in the Act. However, he did not move that Section 33C gives the qualification for appointment as members of the Commission, though he alluded to the fact that most of them have to be lawyers but, it is not solely law in this case. The provisions require that one must hold a degree from a recognised university and have proven knowledge and experience in the following fields: finance, management, political science, electoral matters, and the famous law, that is, governance or public administration. If you qualify in any of these fields, then you can be nominated by the nominating entity, including the Majority and Minority Parties, which shall nominate two members each. Non-parliamentary parties who sit in Parliament are not the parties outside, but those that sit here without sufficient numbers to be recognised as parliamentary parties. That is why it is always the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), and the third one is the Jubilee Party. There is a debate as to whether the Wiper Democratic Movement (WDM) qualifies, but the rest are in coalitions because they do not qualify to be recognised as Parliamentary Parties. These are the parties that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) will represent and make a nomination on their behalf. All these persons must have at least 10 years post-qualification experience in the relevant field. For instance, if you are an advocate you must have practised for… I am sorry to use the word advocate. If you are a lawyer, you must have practised for at least 10 years. All advocates are lawyers, but not all lawyers are advocates. However, anyone with a law degree qualifies for this. You must also meet the requirements of Chapter Six of the Constitution on integrity. A person who has conducted himself in a manner that offends Chapter Six of the Constitution is automatically disqualified. Disqualification has also been discussed. There is a new proposed Section 33D on tenure of office, which we have agreed to be six years, non-renewable. This means that once you have served, on your marks, you go home so as to allow a new team to come in. Section 33E relates to when a vacancy arises. Section 33F is on removal from office. The new Section 33I is on the appointment of the secretary, who is to be the Chief Executive Officer, and by extension, the Accounting Officer of the Commission. Section 33J is on the grounds for removal of the secretary. Finally, we have the concluding clauses that include Section 34(C) of the Principal Act which we need to amend especially when you are deemed to resign from a political party. This is very important because that “deeming” word has a problem and we know for sure it is the courts that have kept most Members of Parliament here, because immediately you are seen to associate with another party, you are deemed to have left that party and you are liable to be disciplined. We agree there must be hygiene in political parties, and there must be a level of cleanliness but again, we keep on asking how many political parties can be trusted in this country? We have seen it before, and we shall continue to see it because there comes a time we 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."
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"id": 1569507,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
"speaker": null,
"content": "will think about political parties’ overreach. Since they have their own constitutions as societies, then they are bound by those constitutions to act when they feel there is a breach. Political parties funding is a very important element of our budget especially when we shall budget for this office. Huge sums of money are supposed to be paid to political parties and there are huge arrears. This year alone I think we are paying about Ksh1.9 billion to political parties in the proposed Budget. I know the last couple of years we have had to reduce that budget to cater for more urgent needs because we felt funding political parties may not be equivalent to even making provision for the Kenya Prisons Service. It is now clear-cut that political parties have to be funded. This is where we are calling for accountability such that if a political party was lucky enough to get a Member of County Assembly (MCA), a Member of Parliament or certain votes which qualify it to get some money from the public coffers, then that political party must be prepared to account for the money in the most meticulous manner. The auditors, including the Committee of Hon. Wamboka, would have to move in and ensure… Hon. Wamboka, I think is on Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education but we have the Public Accounts Committee. They have to be audited so that this money is accounted for. For sure we know that some of parties are out there waiting for the money because they have no other source of income. If that is the case, we are going to grow our political parties by making the provisions. There will be no problem except if the money is sent to political parties for hungry politicians who will actually swindle the money immediately it is received. This will have nothing to do with any political party and therefore it will be misapplication of public resources. This goes with what I keep asking: which parties are we growing in the country? Some of the parties that were started at Independence today are pale shadows of themselves including the long time former ruling party Kenya African National Union (KANU). Today it is a pale shadow of itself. Other parties like the Democratic Party of Kenya on which I was elected on during my first term here today cannot boast of anything apart from one Member of Parliament, and one Senator. Now that the Member of Parliament has gone to the Public Service, it has only one Senator. There are many others that have not been able to live like FORD – Asili and others; all of them are gone. Which political parties are we growing? Would they stand the test of time? If you look at the English position, there are two parties; the Tories and the Labour Party which have been existence from the 17th century or thereabout. If you look at the Americans, they have their Republican and Democratic Parties. They have also been existence since the early 18th century and they have withstood the test of time. Will our parties withstand the test of time or will they continue being a one man show dominated by the principals who once they change their minds, those parties also change their minds into the new outfit that is going to form? We will be asking all these are questions as we continue to study the relevance and implementation of the Political Party’s Fund to see whether it is serving the desired purpose or not. With those very many remarks, I beg to second. Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
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"speaker": null,
"content": "(Question proposed)"
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Martha Wangari",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Catherine Omanyo, do you want to contribute to this Bill?"
},
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"text_counter": 465,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "(Hon. Catherine Omanyo shook her head in disagreement)"
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"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569511/?format=api",
"text_counter": 466,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Martha Wangari",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Caroli. 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."
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