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{
    "id": 1094268,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1094268/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 150,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. This issue that has been brought by the Minority Whip is very important. It is engaging the national debate. Already, there is a serious national debate on this matter. There are a few things that I want to bring for your consideration. First, it is clear and evident that the IEBC has the Kenyan fashion of waiting until the last minute to do what ought to have been done way before. We did our elections in 2017 and the IEBC knew very well that the last day that Parliament should have finalised with these regulations should have been 8th of this month, which was on Sunday. However, the fact that regulations are brought here does not mean that the House will approve them. In the event they are not approved, the IEBC should have provided enough time even for re-consideration of the issues that are contained therein. Hon. Speaker, this is power that this House has delegated to the IEBC, but it appears that the IEBC is not executing its mandate within the law. There are two things that I would be interested to understand. First, Hon. Junet asked for your guidance on whether the Committee on Delegated Legislation could still go ahead and process the Rules and Regulations that have been presented to the House even though we know very well that it is an exercise in futility because the deadline has already passed. The second one is the issue of undermining the authority and powers of Parliament. Can a matter that is before Parliament be discussed by the IEBC as if it is a fait accompli ? The IEBC is proceeding like once they have forwarded the Regulations to the House, they are already accepted. The pronouncement by the IEBC is such that they brought the Regulations to this House as a ceremony. They regard this House a conveyor belt, that there is nothing we will change. I know we cannot change, but we can reject the Regulations and have them done afresh. The IEBC should respect Parliament just like we respect the courts. When a matter is active and is being dealt with by the Judiciary, it is never discussed out there in terms of its merits and demerits. The IEBC is talking about the core issues contained in the Regulations they have submitted to this House yet we have not concluded with them. This House needs to send a message to the IEBC, that they are in violation of our Standing Orders and they are interfering with the people’s sovereign power that is being exercised in this House. They should keep quiet until we communicate back to them, so that they know whether we will have these Campaign Financing Regulations or not. I do not foresee it. I am waiting for your guidance but really, if you strictly follow the law, it is clear that we may not have these Regulations in place. Hon. Speaker, those are the two issues I wanted to add unto what Hon. Junet mentioned. I want to thank him for bringing out the matter, but it should also clearly come out that we are not against the Campaign Financing Regulations. In fact, many of us would want a cap to be put. We are not so rich and we want to campaign within our means. Some of us are facing people who have amassed wealth, which we do not know from where although we suspect them. So, we are very 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."
}