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{
    "id": 1406272,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406272/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 198,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Caroli Omondi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " We should have the spirit that amendments need to be introduced to this particular draft Bill. India, which is the largest democracy in the world, is conducting elections in which 960 million people will vote. The electoral commission of India was formed in 1950. It has only three commissioners. It had one commissioner for 39 years. It was not until 1989 that they added two commissioners. These three commissioners are actually appointed by the President of India, but on the recommendation of a selection panel of three people: The Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and a neutral representative of Parliament. If you look at what we are trying to create here, we are compounding our problems. After the last election and the problems we experienced there are four things that these amendments should have addressed. Firstly, we should have timely review and delimitation of new electoral boundaries. It is a shame that we cannot keep constitutional timelines. We have not had the first major review and delimitation of electoral boundaries under the Constitution of Kenya 2010. That is such a national shame. Secondly, we should have timely by-elections. Banissa Constituency has not had a Member of Parliament for close to a year, which is a national shame. When you read this particular draft Bill, you will appreciate that it does not provide solutions to ensure we have timely by-elections. Thirdly, we should have a timely reconstitution of the IEBC when some of its members retire. Again, that is not addressed in this particular Bill. Fourthly, we should have a timely reconstitution of the selection panel. We are not even debating the question of whether the selection panel should be a standing committee or an adhoc committee as it is currently proposed, and its merits and demerits. All these serious issues are not addressed properly here. Most fundamentally, even though this Bill is a NADCO product, it will create more problems."
}