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{
    "id": 1491182,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1491182/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13588,
        "legal_name": "Osotsi Godfrey Otieno",
        "slug": "osotsi-godfrey-otieno"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I am very sorry. ‘Mr. Speaker’ is in our tongues, so we keep on--- I am sorry for that, Madam distinguished Speaker. The challenges we have with IEBC must be resolved. The other day when the courts made a very important determination on the selection panel of the IEBC, we thought that this matter would be resolved. We are now being told that people have also gone to court. We are asking our courts to also look at the judicial interest in a matter before making some of these orders because having IEBC in this country is very important. We need to have an IEBC like yesterday. We have so many places where by- elections are not being done and so many nominated people who have passed on, but have not been replaced because we do not have IEBC. I implore on the courts to make a decision reflecting what is happening in the environment. That the lack of IEBC is a big challenge. Some of these court cases are meant to derail this process further and ensure that we do not have IEBC in place. Madam Temporary Speaker, let me also comment Section 7 of the County Government Act, which this Bill seeks to amend by giving clarity to the people who will be nominated under the youth. That one of the two people will be a man and another one a woman. Again, for those nominated under marginalised group, we also have a man and a woman. The challenge with this is that considering that the elective seats in the county assembly in most cases are men, it may be very difficult to achieve the two-thirds gender rule. That means the size of this county assembly will increase. If we increase the number of men who are elected and nominated, it simply means the number of women who are nominated will also increase and, therefore, expanding the size of the county assembly. That is one area that Sen. Crystal Asige can look at, so that we do not end up having a bloated county assembly. We have enhanced the number of either gender in the House and, therefore, necessity an increase in the number of the other gender leading to a more bloated county assembly, which means increased wage bill. That is an area that I would request that you look at keenly so that we are not told that we are having a bigger House when we should have a lean House that is representing both genders. Allow me also to comment on the process that is done by IEBC after election to comply with Article 177 (3), where the filling of special seats under Clause 1B shall be determined after declaration of elected members from each ward. We have had a scenario where the computation of how many slots a party is supposed to nominate is a formula that is determined administratively by IEBC. This has been misused by IEBC. You sometimes find that a party was supposed to get a higher number, but they get a lesser number in favour of another party. We need to change the Election Act so that we put it the formula for determining how seats will be allocated, instead of leaving it as an administrative issue to IEBC and, therefore, prone for misuse by those who are involved in allocating the seats. 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."
}