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{
"id": 1426690,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1426690/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Abass",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13587,
"legal_name": "Abass Sheikh Mohamed",
"slug": "abass-sheikh"
},
"content": "procedures. We need to strengthen the court processes so that we can have a fair and free hearing. On election timelines, in the past we used to have elections in December. The most appropriate time for elections is when Kenyans are relaxed, free and the schools closed. In August, at times the people of Northern Kenya are disadvantaged because it comes during the dry period. The people move out of their areas because of the dry spells. They even cross the border to Somalia, Ethiopia and any other part of the world where they can get pasture. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, during the elections the voter turnout is very poor. Most of the times people actually say that Northern Kenya has no population but that is not the case. It is because most of them are pastoralists; they go out of the country and they are disadvantaged because they cannot even present their votes. Therefore, I support that we also look into the time of elections and then we revert to the old days, like during the second Tuesday of December so that, at least everybody can have time to vote, time for the schools and whatever it takes. The business of saying that the constituencies will be based on population, while that is a good thing - however, there should be a consideration of the few. We need to have a united country. We need to have inclusivity. Therefore, everything should not be about saying that population is the basis. In the elections of 2017, the population is featured so much. It was too biased and some of us still feel that those are areas of a case in the court where the figures given were not the right figures for the population of the same area like Northern Kenya. Therefore, that should not be the basis for all elections. Finally, the issue of “one man, one shilling, one vote”. The proponents of “one man, one shilling, one vote”, those who constituted the Constitution of Kenya in 2010 and all those who participated knew that we have majorities and minorities. Therefore, everybody was taken care of. The one thing that our friends in the Mt. Kenya Region should know is that “one Man, one shilling, one vote” will not work for this country. We need a cohesive country. We need all of us to have a right to be elected. In terms of taxation, every Kenyan pays taxes. Those who are multi-millionaires are paying tax. Even the mama mboga pays tax. In that, when she buys a litre of kerosene, she pays tax; when she buys food or rice from the shop, she pays tax. Therefore, no clique does not pay tax, whether it is directly or indirectly. Therefore, for those arrogantly proposing the idea of saying, “one man, one shilling, one vote”, I will tell you that you require 24 counties for you to qualify as a president; you need 50 plus 1 vote. Therefore, if you think that you can gain 50 plus 1 from one region; this is exactly what you have lost. Therefore, we need inclusivity. We need to work together to see this country move forward instead of taking us back to where we came from. With those few remarks, I beg to support the amendment."
}