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{
    "id": 1426887,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1426887/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 178,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, one of the regulations demands that the officers - and they mentioned them such as the Director of Survey - is demanded upon by this regulation to give cooperation to the IEBC when they are carrying out this process. We want to see how this work out. We have wards and constituencies in Tana River County bordering my kind neighbor, Hon. Sen. Wambua, from Kitui County. These are places where our people campaigned and voted for candidates for wards all the way to presidential level. Some of them because of the recent disputes and involvement of police have had schools being annexed by Kitui County yet they are polling stations that are gazetted in Tana River County. I would be very interested in seeing how we will resolve these issues. We want to see whether Director of Survey will state the wards are in Tana River County or those that have been delimited with the IEBC are on the other side of the county. I hope this process will be proper and transparent and it settle some of the disputes that we are having on the boundaries with some of the neighbouring counties. I laud the Third Schedule proposed in this Bill. I thank the people who put in some thought around that area. The only thing that was not spoken to was the question of delimitation on the protected constituencies. I am told that maybe some regulations will be set, or it will be a political question that needs to be resolved from the highest offices in this land. Every time the word ‘delimitation’ or ‘population’ is mentioned, those of us who come from counties that have huge areas, but limited populations get very worried. As we are speaking now, when we go with what the Constitution thresholds have predetermined, in Tana River County, we stand to lose at least one constituency. In fact, if we go strictly by what is supposed to happen, two constituencies are supposed to go so that they merge into one that is Bura and Galole constituencies. Garsen Constituency has the correct population and all the other parameters. I would have thought that the NADCO report based on protecting minorities and sparsely populated areas would have gone to propose constitutional amendments that would protect these constituencies. Members of Parliament (MP) who are coming from those currently protected areas are worried whether these constituencies will be there in the next election. Our people in those constituencies are also worried if those constituencies will be protected. Even as we are talking about proper procedure in delimitation, we must also put in our minds the political question of how to protect the currently protected constituencies. What do we tell the people because they are worried? We have an answer to the people of Tana River County and elsewhere that the wards and constituencies will be contested once the IEBC selection panel is done and the commissioners are in place. As to how many protected constituencies will be there, whether they will be available for contest by the Hon. Members seated here and those aspiring, or the voters will continue benefitting from the NG-CDF, we do not have an answer. That should have dealt with by NADCO so that people are certain about the politics of our counties and constituencies. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}