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"id": 1065574,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1065574/?format=api",
"text_counter": 41,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ugenya, MDG",
"speaker_title": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
"speaker": {
"id": 2955,
"legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
"slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
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"content": "know someone has stolen money, or you can clearly see that this hotel was bought using corruption money and the guy is still standing around town saying the way he wants to run for governor or president! This has to be dealt with! That is why I support this particular provision in the Bill. Hon. Speaker, part of the reason why the two gentlemen came together was to ensure that we have something to deal with electoral theft. In this country, there is something that is creeping into our politics, what I would call electoral authoritarianism. This is where we do elections, but we know the results already. We are going to an election and we know that so-and-so will win and so-and-so will lose. We cannot build a democracy by spreading fear and rumours that the deep State wants so-and-so or the system wants so-and-so. We must build confidence in our institutions. We must build confidence in our electoral process. That is why the provisions in this particular Bill as relates to making sure that our elections are transparent, more inclusive and allows Kenyans to elect their leaders, are very important. We must support them, especially where they ensure that women are involved in elections without being asked to be nominated as long as they run. Centering the IEBC to ensure that it has teeth to organise more transparent elections is important. What is most important is the mind-set of the public or the software of the public being able to understand that if you pick a bribe from a politician to elect him, you get that kind of a politician. You should listen to policies of politicians and elect them based on their manifesto. That is why we spend money in building political parties so that the parties we form are everybody’s platform where parties and leaders can project their voices. Kenyans should understand why a party is good and why a candidate wants to run for, say, President, not how much money is given to them. Sometimes I listen to Kenyans and I wonder what kind of leaders they want. If someone comes to you with a good policy framework, tells you what they will do if they become this or that, if he does not have money, then you tell him no, this is not going anywhere. So, this is an area where it is not for Members or governors. It is about our citizens being able to know what is good for them. They should not be waiting for handouts and saying this one has given Kshs1,000 and so, we will elect him, and the other has given us Kshs200 only, so, we elect him. If we are going to have a good country that we all belong to and hope can become like Singapore, then we must elect good leaders. We cannot hope to grow by electing people we know are thieves, did not go school and have no ideas when it comes to offering solutions. We talk about re-engineering our country; the rebirth of the country. How do you rebirth the country if you have a civil service that has been there for the last 40 years? It is a bureaucracy that is so rotten such that anybody who comes in knows how to capture you. It cannot grow. We cannot solve problems of the 21st Century while having a public service of the 19th Century. As we reform our electoral system, we must also reform our public service to ensure that it is in tandem with the future of the country. Let me talk about representation. One song that has been going on for a while now in this country is that we are over-represented. We have too many representatives, Members of Parliament, Senators, MCAs and governors. That has been the song. In Luo where I come from, we say that when the mongoose touches the chicken, you chase the mongoose, but you also blame the chicken. There are very good things in this Bill. However, there are areas where we must blame the chicken as well. I do not see the rationale for increasing the membership of the National Assembly from 290 to 360. There is a provision in the Constitution that will result in endless numbers of MPs because if you do not get the gender balance, you will have to add more numbers until you reach that provision. This House is now unlimited in number. There could be 600 people in this House in the next Parliament. 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."
}