Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1479790,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1479790/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 440,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "There are jurisdictions that have gone this way establishing an independent Register of Political Parties and have challenges that arose. I have also listened to the present Registrar and I know there is a memorandum that they have sent to this House. We need to listen to them as the users of this law. They have prepared some good proposals on how this can be made better. I have noted and stated, that this was a bipartisan Bill and therefore, even in seeking amendments, the same has to be considered. However, this is good progress. I hope we can conclude on this and ensure that it becomes law so that we have sanity in our political parties. There are too many political parties and that is why I have a problem with the present Registrar's laws. Even on account of one clause of what a political party is, it fails 99 per cent of many of these so-called briefcase political parties. Even just along the requirements of having an office in at least more than half of the counties, which is 24. How many political parties have more than 24 offices across our counties in this country? This includes so many others. We must build a strong culture so as to stop this business of people having briefcase political parties that are transactional only during election time. In established older democracies, there are no more than two political formations. If you move maybe to Europe, they have even gone further and are moving towards political coalitions. I must happily note that part of what we are also doing here is a deletion of that very non-conventional creation by statute that passed here during very difficult times towards the 2022 general election; something called a coalition political party. Members hurriedly passed this then within months or a few weeks later, they all gathered at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) and realized that it was not possible to have candidates run on something called, for example, Azimio coalition party. They have since realized how impractical that is. We are seeking the deletion of the existence of a coalition political party as described in that particular law. Madam Temporary Speaker, I was speaking to the need to provide sanity in our political parties, so that you have functional political parties that do elections regularly, have elected officials; transcend beyond one party leader to the next and have people take ownership of that particular party. The proper beginning is to have an independent political party so that people can argue on ideals and things that they believe. Yesterday or the day before that the young people who have been on the street calling for more accountability have since registered a political party. That is a welcome move. It is better than tweeting insults and doing the kind of things that I see some of them do. We have a Constitution. At the end of the day, you may not like Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda Odhiambo, SC, but between now and 2027, he remains to be the Senator of Kisumu County. If you do not agree with his ideals and what he professes in his political practice, the proper thing to do is either join a political party or run independently and come and do a better job. That is the essence of democracy. I do not see why people want to create enmity out of political processes. It is important that we have an office that will expand our democratic space by ensuring that we have sanity in our political parties and they have a fair, competing environment. With those very many remarks, I beg to move and request the Senator for Kisumu County, Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda Odhiambo, SC, to second. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
}