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{
    "id": 1406283,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1406283/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Looking at this Bill, it addresses three fundamental areas. One is the question of the selection panel. Two is the term of the CEO. Number three is the mechanics of delimitation of constituencies and the electoral wards boundaries. Looking at this Bill in totality, we must say it is a progress in the right manner. However, I also want to join my colleagues in saying that it does not go deep enough to address the issues that have been fomenting for many years. I voted for the first time in 1992. I must admit that since then, there have been tremendous changes in the way we conduct our elections. However, the changes have not gone deep enough to make sure that elections are conducted in a credible manner that even if anybody contested it, its determination in a court of law would be seamless, simple and straightforward. The most interesting election that I can remember is the mlolongo system one. On paper and in theory, it was the most transparent election process because we lined up and you could see who had lined up behind your back. However, because of our bad manners – sorry for using those words. Because of our lack of fidelity to the law and adherence to basic morals, we botched the entire process and it became an eye sore and embarrassment to the whole world. There is some tiding up that I must admit is good. A chairman is a chairman. A chairman cannot be a collegial. He is a chairman. He is one individual who must be held responsible for the work he does. He must chair. Our Constitution is very clear when we talk about a commission. The chairman and the Commissioners are independent. The definition that was put in the principal Act envisaged that if there is no chair, the vice-chair can hold the powers of the chair and act. That is a misnomer. We had a tendency in this Parliament that was apparent in the 12th Parliament. I can see it creeping back into this Parliament. Many times, we are in a hurry to please our political masters somewhere and we proceed to make laws that are outrightly unconstitutional and contradictory. When these laws are brought before the courts of law, they are annulled and it is the Members of Parliament who are left embarrassed with red faces as if they do not know what to do. Therefore, we must give ourselves adequate time to look at a Bill and scrutinise it in details. There is no hurry. Whatever we hurry to do will always be annulled and then we will come back to legislate it. Any system that is done must be subjected to auditing. As we sit here today, probably the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) audits its processes and systems and retains that information for its own internal use. The public, who are the main consumers of the electoral process, never know the lapses and the areas that need to be strengthened and rectified. That is one reason why I support the provision that they must audit their processes and systems and publish the report. I want to imagine that immediately after the electoral petitions are completed – by law it is one year – they should release that report. The million-dollar question here is: What happens if the report points out some mistakes that benefited one person and disadvantaged another? What remedy do we give here? Are we opening a Pandora's box or what other remedies are we putting in? For example, if it became apparent – like it has been in the previous years where the votes of Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga were routinely and shamelessly stolen – that a contestant worn elections yet another contestant has already been sworn in as the President and the process at the Supreme Court has been concluded, what do we do? That is why when we enact an Act of Parliament, we must look at posterity. We must look at all the best-case scenarios and the worst-case scenarios and put into place mitigation measures. We have gone for an expanded selection panel on the belief that we do not want to allow any wing of the political process to appoint members of the IEBC. However, we have, again, shifted the process of interviews and transmission of the results of the interview from the selection panel to the President. The President will be given three names to pick the chairperson. That remains intact. It has been proposed that the President will be given nine names and he will be at pleasure to pick seven out of those nine names. I want to tell my coalition members, the National Dialogue Committee group and whoever brought this Bill, that 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"
}