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{
    "id": 1135981,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1135981/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 232,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "In 2016, the Jubilee Party attempted to cure the problem and amalgamated all the parties that supported the coalition. We know the story. Some people have bolted. It is clear that coalitions are the future of Kenya. It is a global phenomenon. There are coalitions in Britain, Germany and South Africa. There are coalitions everywhere. How do we ensure that parties that come together through a coalition are protected from the issues that we have seen in the past? That is what we need to think about. When two or three parties come together, they cannot rely on the big brother to protect them. They must be protected in law. We are providing for a legal recognition of any framework that allows three or four political parties to come together so that they can sponsor their candidates as a political party. They share the money as a political party. It is not up to the big or the small brother to control the shots. That is the best thing that can happen to this country. I do not understand how anyone would have a problem with that kind of arrangement that protects small parties and individuals. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we also know that we have been having problems with access to political party funding. Political parties are funded by the Exchequer to the tune of 0.3 per cent of the national revenue. We shall be making an amendment to that because the national revenue reference was in 2011 and we now know it is sharable revenue, excluding the money for the counties. But that money is only accessible to what we call the “big boys”. That money has never been accessible to the small parties. The small parties will have three or four Members of Parliament, a governor and some members of the county assemblies (MCAs), but cannot access the national kitty that was set up to promote the growth of democracy in this country. Therefore, one of the amendments that are being proposed in this law is to lower the threshold for access to the national funds that are being provided for the growth of democracy in this country. That way, any party that wins a seat; be it in the county assembly, gubernatorial race, Senate or the National Assembly, has put enough effort to merit participating in the sharing of the national funds. That is the kind of thing that is good for democracy in this country. We may oppose things because we might think that we do not need them."
}