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{
    "id": 1136011,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1136011/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 262,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Endebess, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Robert Pukose",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I want to contribute to this Political Parties (Amendment) Bill. From the onset, I know there are some good amendments but, generally, we also have amendments that Members will bring. My main issue is that this Bill has hurriedly been brought. Even Members have been called away from their vacation to come and contribute. I think the issue of having free and fair elections will be a mirage if this House is not careful. Of interest is Clause 10 of the Bill. It provides that a person who, while being a member of a political party, shall be deemed to have resigned from that party if that person promotes the ideology, interests or policies of another political party. This provision can be used to limit the political rights of members as espoused in Article 38 of the Constitution, which provides that every citizen, including Members of Parliament, have a right to campaign for a political party or course and is free to make political choices. The Bill outlaws those political rights and more so, if enacted, shall be used to threaten members who support certain courses - for instance, economic empowerment and other ideologies of a party that a member believes. As the Leader of the Minority Party was contributing, some Members were saying parties like WDM-K have not been paid by ODM up to date. And clause 15 of the Bill seeks to amend section 25 of the Political Parties Act to provide for the formula of distribution of the Political Parties Fund. What happens when you have a repeat election? Are you going to use the presidential results of the first election or of the repeat election? For instance, NASA boycotted the repeat presidential election. So, what happens? Do they get money based on the repeat election? That needs to be very clear. Clause 20F (d) and (e) provide additional functions for the Registrar, which shall be to regulate political party nominations and train political party election agents. Is this not an interference by the Registrar in the manner in which political parties shall conduct their affairs? How do you mandate the Registrar to regulate political party activities? What role does the Registrar have in party nominations and in training party election agents? This cannot be the case unless it is a decoy to interfere with party nominations and election results. Parties should be free to conduct their nominations and choose and train persons of their choice as party agents. Clause 22 of the Bill seeks to provide requirements for conduct of political party nominations, which include the requirement that a political party that intends to conduct party nominations shall apply in writing to the Registrar for a certified copy of its register. What happens when the certified copy of its register is interfered with? Some of you Members may find yourself missing from that register. What happens in a constituency where you have members registered as voters? It is not just that you will get votes only from your political party. I think we must use the IEBC register and not the registrar from the Registrar of Political Parties. When you use the latter, some members will be locked out. You will be told you are not a member of the party. As it is currently, we know that people have been registered in political parties where they do not belong. People go to M-Pesa agents, get peoples’ details and register them in a political party of their choice. It is, however, notable that the Bill outlaws participation of any person who is not a registered member of a political party from participating in the party nominations. This shall technically lock out many registered voters from nominating their candidates as they must be members of the political party that is conducting the nominations. From what I have highlighted, I beg to oppose the Second Reading of the Bill unless it is amended to accord with Article 38 of the Constitution on political rights and to, more so, allow 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."
}