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{
    "id": 1378259,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1378259/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1719,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Marakwet West, Independent",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Timothy Kipchumba",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute on this important Report. I rise to support the Report for the following reasons. One of the issues that came out very clearly in this Report is that of the IEBC. There was a recommendation that the panel be expanded from seven to nine. As a country, we find ourselves in a situation where we have never been. We are in a constitutional crisis in as far as IEBC is concerned. This House is not fully constituted because we lost the Member for Banisa Constituency. A Member of Parliament is elected to this House to represent, legislate and oversee government operations. As we speak, that particular constituency is not represented. Therefore, it does not have a Member who will oversee, represent and legislate on their behalf. If the law allowed for holding of briefs, we would have a Member from a nearby constituency holding brief for that constituency. It is a crisis that we must resolve and the only way is to adopt this Report and initiate a constitutional amendment so that we fully constitute the IEBC. The issue of ‘winner takes it all’ is what has given us a crisis in this country and has led to election disputes. I fully support the creation of the Office of the Leader of Official Opposition so that any person who gets the second highest number of votes becomes the leader of Opposition. Finally, it is unfortunate and regrettable that the two-thirds gender rule was not factored in the report. This is something that should have been considered. They have tried in many occasions to bring it as a single item but it has never been passed. I hope we shall cure it through an amendment in the Constitution using any other means apart from this Report. Hon. Temporary Speaker, for those reasons, I rest my case."
}