Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1426894,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1426894/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 185,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13588,
        "legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
        "slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
    },
    "content": "How I wish that we had at least one Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) expert sitting on this selection panel. Apart from accounting knowledge, we have also proposed that the chairperson of the Commission must have ICT experience and knowledge. Yes, accounting knowledge is taken care of by ICPAK, however, no one in that panel is adequately experienced and knowledgeable on matters of ICT to help us get the right Commissioner with ICT knowledge. This is very critical in election management. Madam Temporary Speaker, I do not know how that proposal to have PSC cater for the budget of the selection was arrived at. We are suffering in this House because of low budgets. Our committees are not able to run effectively. We put a budget towards NADCO and now, we are putting another budget towards this selection panel and yet, we have no additional budget as Parliament. This is a process that will lead to IEBC commissioners being appointed. The right institution that should have catered for the budget of this process is the IEBC. I am wondering where the PSC is coming in. We are just one of the bodies going to facilitate the appointment of the commissioners. There are other bodies such as the LSK, ICPAK, PPLC and the Inter-religious Council. This should have been the budget of IEBC, not PSC. We are setting the wrong precedence as Parliament. We want to cover the budget for other institutions when we have a strained budget as a Parliament. I am not opposing; I am just questioning that decision. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am also very excited about the decision to amend this Act so that the decisions of the Commission shall not be made by one person without the concurrence of the majority of the members. In the last election, there was an accusation that the Chairperson of the Commission made a unilateral decision. We saw the contestation between Chebukati and the Cherera Four; that, the results were only communicated to them, they were not involved in tabulating the final results. This amendment is going to take care of that limitation that we had in the 2022 General Election. Madam Temporary Speaker, the use of technology is a big issue. It is the elephant in the room on matters of electoral justice in this country. For us on this side, we have been talking about the opening of the servers. We hope that the servers will be opened so that Kenyans can know the truth. Even as we are talking about that, we need to factor it into law. We are going to have an opportunity to discuss the amendments to the Election Act. One amendment that I would have expected the NADCO team to deal with was an amendment to Section 44(8) of the Election Act. Section 44(8) provides that there will be a joint ICT technical committee on matters of adoption and use of technology. However, just before the 2022 General Election, this section was amended further to make it discretionary for IEBC to determine whether to have external people or not. That is why, there were problems around the adoption of technology. In 2017, we had this committee, and I was a member. We were even taken to Dubai to assess the technology and the printing of ballot papers. As a result, we got 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."
}