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{
    "id": 1174337,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1174337/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1082,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tiaty, KANU",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kassait Kamket",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13493,
        "legal_name": "William Kamket Kassait",
        "slug": "william-kamket-kassait"
    },
    "content": "four months preceding a general election. The latest possible statutory timeline within which the Draft Regulations ought to have been approved was 9th April 2022, being exactly four months before the general election scheduled for 9th August 2022. Section 15(2) of the Statutory Instruments Act of 2013 requires the Committee to make its decision within 28 sitting days or the Regulations are deemed to have been approved by operation of the law. The House was on recess from 15th April 2022 to Monday, 9th May 2022. Time stopped running during the recess hence the Committee’s statutory timelines run up to 10th June 2022, when the House is to adjourn sine die. Section 109(4) of the Elections Act requires the commission to publish in the Gazette, not later than 60 days before the date of a general election, the Regulations approved by the National Assembly under sub-section 3. Hence, the latest possible date the commission ought to publish the Regulations is the 10th day of June 2022—being 60 days from the date of the general election for the year 2022. Section 15(3) of the Statutory Instruments Act provides, and I quote: “Despite the provisions of this Act or any other written law, where a time is prescribed for doing an act or taking a proceeding by the National Assembly relating to the handling of a statutory instrument, the National Assembly may by resolution extend that time by a period not exceeding 28 days.” The summary of the Regulations the IEBC wanted to have this House to pass, one of the Regulations related to registration of voters. By the time they were bringing the Regulations, they were already out of time. The other one relates to general amendment regulations. The other ones concern voter education, party nominations’ lists and change of technology. When the Committee conferred with the IEBC according to Section 16 of the Statutory Instruments Act, when the Committee made an invitation for conferment with the IEBC, the Committee received a regret letter from the IEBC for various reasons. In their regret to meet with the Committee, the IEBC cited various reasons. One was that they were already out of time, by their own admission. The other issue they raised was the budgetary constraints they had as a commission. Stunningly, an admission by the commission, that they were unable to undertake public participation on the Draft Regulations. In determining what to do with these Regulations, the Committee examined the said Regulations in line with the Constitution, the Elections Act (No. 24 of 2011), the Statutory Instruments Act (No. 23 of 2013), the Interpretation and General Provisions Act (Cap 2), the Elections Voter Registration Regulations and all those Regulations, and observed as following: That Section 109(3) of the Elections Act provides that the power to make Regulations shall be exercised only after a draft of the proposed regulations has been approved by the National Assembly, at least four months preceding a general election and that the IEBC is to gazette the Regulations 60 days before a general election; that some of the Regulations do not conform to the Constitution and the Elections Act of 2011 and are, therefore, contrary to Section 13(a) of the Statutory Instruments Act and need to be amended; that most of the Regulations contained drafting errors, contrary to Section 13(m) of the Statutory Instruments Act. In further observation, unlike Regulations made under other statutes, Section 109(3) of the Elections Act requires that Regulations made by the commission under that Act must be laid before the National Assembly and approved by the House before they are published in the Gazette. This calls for an affirmative resolution by the House. In the circumstances therefor, I beg to move that this House adopts the Report of this Committee to reject the Regulations by the IEBC. I beg to move and ask my Committee Member, the Hon. Member for Roysambu to second. 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."
}