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{
    "id": 1279418,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1279418/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 475,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ugunja, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Opiyo Wandayi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "It was during the clamor dubbed “ reforms, no elections.” It took the IPPG to midwife a settlement as a reconstitution of the electoral commission then. Elections have proved to be one of the single largest causes of instability in not only Africa but also the entire world. Elections. Their conduct and outcome. We cannot bury our heads in the sand that we live in or pretend we are on some island. No. Due to elections, we are not immune to problems that have engulfed countries, some more powerful than us, around the world. I am sure you will recall a few examples. Take, for instance, the case of Uganda in 1980 when election results were disputed; elections that pitted then Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) led by President Obote, who had just come from a nine-year exile in Tanzania. He was brought in. President Paul Muwanga, who had just been in power for two months, gave him the way to lead UPC in that election. President Yoweri Museveni also contested the election under the Uganda Patriotic Movement banner. The outcome of that election was heavily contested. It led to a five-year civil war that cost the lives of more than half a million Ugandans until the National Resistance Movement (NRM) took over power in January 1986. You can also talk of the situation in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 2010 when President Laurent Gbagbo clung to power and was holed up in his bunker, even having been declared a loser in that election. Mr. Alassane Ouattara, who was declared the winner, was holed up in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, trying to run the Government from a hotel room when Gbagbo refused to cede power. It took efforts of the French Army and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to flush out Gbagbo and send him to the International Criminal Court (ICC). By the time he went to the ICC, thousands of Ivorians had lost their lives, if you recall. I do not want to talk about the Rwandan situation. You know what happened in 1994 when President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down. He died together with the President of Burundi. What followed was a genocide that cost about one million Rwandese lives. Recently, you saw what happened even in the mightiest of our democracies, the United States of America (USA). Members of the Proud Boys Movement, a white-wing militia, stormed Capitol Hill and took it over on 6th January 2021. I am told they are being charged now. They are in court, including former President Donald Trump. No country is immune to civil strife. No country is immune to instability due to elections, conduct, and outcome. We have an opportunity as a country to once again re-look at the question of our elections in a bipartisan manner. I would be happy as a participant in an election to concede if I lose fairly – yes, to you. Hon. Ichung’wah, one of these days, I will be happy if you could also concede once you lose against me. That is the culture we want to inculcate in this country. I want to echo what Hon. Ichung’wah has said. As Members of the Azimio One Kenya Coalition Movement, we are not getting into these talks with the intention of seeking any partnership, any share of Government, or any form or size of mkate. We are neither seeking a half, quarter, or even a slice of a loaf. We seek to ensure that we lay a foundation to ensure lasting peace and stability for this country."
}