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{
    "id": 1010962,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1010962/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 459,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ganze, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Teddy Mwambire",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13334,
        "legal_name": "Teddy Ngumbao Mwambire",
        "slug": "teddy-ngumbao-mwambire-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Bill. Looking at what is happening in the public, there are many flaws that we make as elected leaders. There is a regulation that says that, if for instance, I participate in a fundraiser and I am given something as an appreciation for participating, I am supposed to declare it. But if you look at records for the last three years, I have not heard anybody declaring anything including those who are known to participate in fundraising every time. It is time for us to have regulations on how we conduct fundraisings because sometimes you just wake up in the morning and find that you have been added to five or 10 WhatsApp fundraising groups. As I speak, I have just received four invitations for fundraisings next weekend. There must be set guidelines for these fundraisings so that, at least, we know we are fundraising for something and the target for the fundraising is a certain amount. In case it surpasses, there must also be a regulation to make it clear. I have heard my colleagues say that 21 days are few. I know there will be some exceptions, for instance, burial fundraisers do not take 21 days, but there must be some clear guidelines on how we are going to conduct every fundraising. We do not want to leave everything open. I have participated in a number of fishy fundraising. There was a time I was in my office in my former position when a young man came with a girl and they wanted to be assisted with school fees. We converged and had a fundraiser knowing that we were taking that girl to school. We even gave responsibility to one of us to go to the school to wait for the girl so that more payments could be done. In the evening, we discovered that out of that fundraiser, the money was used for abortion. The girl was pregnant and we felt very bad. It was not easy to trace the boy who was introduced to us as the cousin. This happened because we did not have a clear guidance. We must have a guide because whatever is happening is not clear. In other areas, we are told that in every fundraising, there at least have to be an administrator. The administrators do not attend those fundraising because they are also expected to give to the fundraising. So, they shun away from such gatherings. Now you are left with the public and there are no clear guideline. In another scenario, I went to a wedding fundraiser. There were two different functions last Sunday and when I sent my contribution, I received a call in the evening that the lady had refused to get married because the man had failed to buy the best suit for the wedding and yet the money had not been returned. You can imagine such a scenario where you contribute to a wedding which never occurs and people are not given their money back. This happened to me in 2008 and it happened again last Sunday. Therefore, regulation is very important. As much as we want to assist, there must be clear regulations. There is no way we can leave it open because we have been raised through fundraisings among other issues. I support the initiator of this Bill and the arguments he raises and when time comes we will panel beat it and critique it, but we cannot, at any time, think of killing this spirit of having a regulation. I support the Bill."
}