Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1480940,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1480940/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "On election day, they have to be at the polling station. They have to be at the tallying centre at night. They have to sit for three, or four days waiting for the results to come out. Meanwhile, you are maintaining them, paying them allowances, giving them airtime, taking care of their food and accommodation. Election day expenses of a Senator in this House are on average Kshs10 million if one decides to deploy agents properly. Of course, some of us sometimes find you do not have strong opposition, and then you decide to just ride on existing systems. Where the situation is tight, a Senator will be required to have Kshs10 million for the three days, pre and post-election. If you multiply that by the 47 counties, we are looking at an enterprise that spends billions that could have been put to better use. I have just spoken about the position of the Senator, I have not spoken about the Woman Representative, Governor and President. In the American system, it is estimated that political campaigns that were about eight years ago, were costing 16 billion U.S. dollars. 16 billion on politics, and that was more than the budget of half the American states. If you look at our expenses when it comes to elections, it is money that could have been directed to other places, but we spend it because we have no trust. This is because we have an electoral body that has not demonstrated integrity. Madam Temporary Speaker, we need to also look at the other laws that relate to spending on elections. However, we can reduce that expenditure if we build institutions, technologies, systems, processes, and an infrastructure that inspires trust. It should be enough for a candidate to present themselves on election day, make sure that people vote, and trust that the IEBC officials and the security officials that are there will be able to provide a result that reflects the voice of the people. Yet we never trust them. When you see policemen in that hall, you feel that they have been sent by the state to rig you out. When you see IEBC officials, the default mode is that they are going to rig you out. The fear is that they are going to be bribed by your opponent so that they can declare the wrong results. As a result, our polling stations have become battlegrounds, where each candidate has two agents, five security people and five mobilizers. It is against the election laws, but it is something that happens. That is why sometimes it takes too long for results to come out of polling stations. Interestingly also, when the tallying has been done at that polling station, candidates insist that they must be part of that entourage that transmits the results to the constituency tallying centre, and to the county tallying centre. That is a system that is broken and we have time for us to change it. Many of the countries that we look up to, what we are calling modern democracies, for example, America are holding their elections on the 4th of November. They do not have the same system of fast past the post that they are imposing on us. Elections in France is a two-round election for the Legislature. You only win in the first round if you get 50 per cent, but otherwise, if you do not get 50 per cent, even as a member of the legislature, you have to go for the second round. Look at South Africa, proportional representation. Look at the United Kingdom, we are talking of a Westminster style of democracy. Where did we get this mongrel of first past the post where elections have become ethnic census? This is where we sit down 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."
}