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{
    "id": 1166129,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1166129/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 311,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, it would be possible, if you came to Homa Bay County, that when you throw a stone it will land on the roof of a degree holder. In fact, in some villages, when you throw a stone, it would land on the roof of a PhD holder, but that is not the case across the country. Therefore, to restrict political leadership to only 3.5 per cent of the population, would be discrimination of a large proportion of Kenyans. In this House, we have 67 Members of the Senate. Most likely we have 150 degrees amongst us because many of us have 2 or 3 degrees but that is not the case everywhere. Secondly, what type of Government did we envision when we enacted our Constitution in 2010? If you look at Article 4 and 10 of the Constitution, it tells the kind of nation we envisioned. We say we are a multi-party democracy founded on national values and principles. The national values and principles include things like nondiscrimination, equality and participation of the people. Therefore, it would be unfair to openly and out rightly discriminate against the majority of the population because that will fly against the provisions of Article 10 and 4 of the Constitution. Are we a democracy or a meritocracy? This has been the debate in many parts of the world. That; what form of government works? The Chinese believe that a meritocracy is the best form of government, but it is a meritocracy that is guided. That for you to become a member of the Communist Party of China, you have to be natured through the system. You have to start from the bottom. In fact, it is almost an unwritten rule that for you to lead China, you must have been a premier or have led some region or must have been in the party structures for a long time. That is a meritocracy. In our Constitution, we chose a democracy. Democracy means that all members who have the right to vote, also have the right to vie to represent the rest of the population. Where we must insist on meritocracy is the civil service. In Parliament, we must insist on people who have their ears to the ground and who are articulate and able to bring the concerns and wishes of their people to Parliament. There is also the question of universal suffrage. Young people do not know that for some years in the history of this country, not everyone could vote. That in pre independence, there was a complicated voting system where it depended on the number of cows, or the acres of land that you had. Even women did not have the vote. People do not know that the United States of America (USA) that we so admire, not too long ago, black people did not have the right to vote. In our Constitution, we said we are a Republic and based on universal suffrage where any Kenyan of adult age has a right to vote. If we talk about universal suffrage as a principle of our representative politics, this business of people lining up to apply for voters’ cards when they are already citizens of the Republic is nonsense. I wish this House had the capacity. Given an opportunity, in the next Senate, we must abolish all these side laws we have that disenfranchise Kenyans. You will find"
}