Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 115863,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/115863/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 854,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "to all. It must take into account that this country is for small communities, large tribes and people of different backgrounds such as farmers, pastoralists and the rest. I also want us to be sober and know that what is good for you may not necessarily be good for another person. Therefore, we must strike a balance. I have read the Harmonized Draft Constitution myself. I want to emphasize the issue of administrative areas. The draft talks about eight regions. However, I wish to differ with the proposal. I come from Moyale Constituency which is part of the larger upper Eastern. For a person from Moyale or North Horr to get services from a Provincial Commissioner (PC), one has to travel as many as 900 kilometers. You will agree with me that in today’s Kenya, this is not fair. It is a serious way of continuously marginalizing some of these communities. I want to urge my colleagues that we support the preposition of the Bomas Draft where eight regions are recognized. That brings me to the issue of boundaries review. I want to thank the Interim Boundaries Review Commission (IBRC). They are going round the provinces and have promised that they will go down to constituencies. As we look at this very important exercise, we have had various views. Some people have advocated as radical a proposal as one man one vote. Others, from our own regions have proposed equally radical proposal of one kilometer one vote. This is where I want us to strike middle ground. The person talking about population is acceptable and the person talking about vastness of land is equally very important. What are we talking about here? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have to look for a middle ground. You can represent one million people in a small area where the means of communication is perfect better than represent 10,000 people spread over a large parcel of land. For example, when you talk of Mvita Constituency which is about 1.7 square kilometers and compare it with North Horr which is 38,000 square kilometers, each of them is represented by one Member. That is not fair! If you talk about population, North Horr will not get any additional constituency. If you only talk about geography, other seriously over-populated areas like Embakasi will not get additional constituencies because they do not qualify. So, we have to get a middle ground. All we are saying is that population is important and land mass is equally important."
}