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{
    "id": 1426893,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1426893/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 184,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13588,
        "legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
        "slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for the opportunity again to make my voice heard on the IEBC Amendment Bill. We must commend the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) team for coming up with this Bill. I join my colleague, Sen. Wambua to say that this is a product of bipartisan negotiations between the Azimio la Umoja Coalition of Kenya and the Kenya Kwanza Coalition. A number of the proposals contained in this Bill are going to address some of the challenges that we have had in this country in election management. I also think a lot needs to be done to ensure that we have a level playing field in our election. We will also have an opportunity to look at the proposals contained in the Elections Amendment Bill, which is also a product of NADCO. Allow me to comment on the composition of the selection panel. The Bill says that two persons shall be nominated by the Parliamentary Service Commission to represent the Minority and Majority parties. Whereas I agree with that, I think something is missing. What is missing is how political parties will be directly involved in that nomination process. If you give that task purely to the Parliamentary Service Commission to determine for you the choice of the Minority and Majority, you are likely not to get the right people that the parties. I want to give an example. In the current panel, someone who was nominated to represent the Azimio la Umoja Coalition was not even known to the Azimio la Umoja leadership. I will be proposing an amendment to this. We must have a preliminary process done by the Majority political party and Minority political party to submit, even if it means three names, to the Parliamentary Service Commission. The Parliamentary Service Commission will then choose one representative from a Minority and one representative from Majority from among the names submitted by political parties. Otherwise, we will not be doing justice to the political parties if we allow the Parliamentary Service Commission, which we know is dominated by the government side, to choose for the Minority site, representation in this Selection panel. The same applies to the Political Parties Liaison Committee (PPLC). The PPLC process must also have the input the Majority and Minority political party. I have served in the PPLC. It is a club of briefcase parties. There are over 80 political parties. The main political parties in the PPLC, that is the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), and the other big parties do not feel safe in the PPLC. They are intimidated by these briefcase parties. Now you are giving them a chance to determine for you three persons, One for the Majority party, one for the Minority party and one for the other small parties. They will also give you a choice which they feel is their best. Again, we need the involvement of the respective parties. We must have a preliminary process of choosing the names, which are then presented to them to decide. Otherwise, we will be doing favour and justice to the Majority and Minority parties. We want to agree that the main contestation in our election has been the use of technology. We saw that in the year 2017 and in 2022. Looking at the selection panel, I do not see how that aspect of the use of technology is being captured. 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."
}