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{
    "id": 1480892,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1480892/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 125,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "I have since seen that our colleague, Sen. Cherarkey, has done another Constitutional Amendment Bill, and some of the provisions borrowed from the NADCO Report. That is a conversation that we are going to have. Today's Bill, The Elections Offences (Amendment) (No.2) Bill (Senate Bills No.28 of 2024) principal object is to amend Section 6 of the Election Offences Act of 2016 that we passed in this House about eight years ago. There was a very interesting debate at that particular time. If you have seen some of the snippets from the debates and the things that were said at that particular time contained in some of the very interesting old videos of the Senate. It was a very heated exchange in this House. One of the things I have challenged the Clerk of the Senate to do is to come up with a digital library. The generation of Sen. Oketch Gicheru does not believe anymore in ink and paper. They are keener on listening and watching. Therefore, we must keep a video library, and make it digitally available, so that when Sen. Oketch or Sen. Lemaletian takes a break from their manoeuvres on TikTok, they can listen into debates that were done five or 10 years ago, and that will interest them. I would have included Sen. Methu in that list, but given his latest looks, I do not think that he qualifies to be with his age mates in that particular regard. He is young at heart, but I am not sure about that face. So, in 2016, when this Election Offences Act was passed in this House, it was a very heated debate. We kept on reminding each other of one of the cardinal rules of law- making. It was the first time I had these words by the then-Senator for Bungoma and now the Speaker of the National Assembly, that as you pass laws, please think of that law in the hand of your worst enemy and you on the receiving end. Many times, we pass laws here and you imagine that because maybe I am a legislator, I can easily get away with these things, but you never know; you will not be a legislator for life. You will not be in power forever. There are days you will be an ordinary citizen. The prevailing theme at that time was that it is important that as we pass legislation, we understand that as political leaders, we are practitioners in the political space. As we passed the electoral offences law, it was important we remind ourselves that what obtains at that particular time may not be necessarily true. We have seen the topsy-turvy nature of our politics, that the people who you necessarily do not greet today may be your best friends tomorrow. Many people are getting to learn that in this particular session. However, those who have been around for a while know that is the norm in politics."
}