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{
    "id": 1494690,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494690/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 407,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Clause 25 of the Bill deletes Section 45 which provides for the conditions under which a Member of Parliament (MP) may be recalled. These provisions were declared unconstitutional in the Katiba Institute and another versus the Constitution Attorney General (AG) in the constitutional Petition No.209. Clause 26 proposes to delete the provisions of Section 46(1)(b) that requires the petition to recall a MP must be signed by a petitioner who was registered to vote in the election in respect of which the recall is sought and that the petition must be accompanied by an order of the High Court. These provisions were also declared unconstitutional. Clause 28 proposes to repeal Section 74 of the Act which provides for the settlement of certain electoral disputes by the IEBC since the mandate is now a function of Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) as provided in the Political Parties Act of 2011, just to provide clarity. Clause 29 of the Bill proposes to amend Section 75 which provides for the county election disputes by deleting the requirements that appeals to the High Court shall be on matters of law only and inserting New Section 5 to provide that the decision of the High Court on appeal on the validity of the election of a Member of County Assembly (MCA) shall be final. Clause 30 proposes to amend Section 82 of the Act which provides for the scrutiny of votes by providing that a court may extend a scrutiny of votes beyond the polling station or areas mentioned in the pleadings. This is a rather obvious provision but those who practice law in our courts like you, know that the limitation of many election petitions; where perhaps the given that election petitions are time-bound and sometimes a lawyer either forgets to file-in many of the contested election results, later on in the court process they are denied the opportunity to provide for scrutiny even when it becomes rather too obvious that an opening of a particular voting station will help the court in making the determination. Clause 32 of the Bill provides to amend Section 85A which provides for appeals to the Court of Appeal in respect to Members of the National Assembly, Senate or the office of the county governor by deleting the requirements that appeal shall be on matters of law only and inserting a new Subsection 5 to provide that the decision of the Court of Appeal shall be final. I am sure Senior Counsel Sen. Omogeni- who shall be seconding this and was part of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) process shall expound more on it. Clause 33 of the Bill proposes to insert new section 87A, 87B and 87C to provide for the appointment by Parliament of an independent firm to carry out an evaluation of the electoral process after a general election. The evaluation shall include the review of the legal framework, processes and costs associated with the electoral process and propose new provisions require preparation of a report and submission to Parliament within 90 days of the appointment of the independent firm. Just to ensure that at the end of every election, we provide a firm to audit the process in its entirety and lead Parliament in passing legislation such as this. Sen. Olekina, you are not in the House but I mentioned earlier that mistrust is what we are trying to cure in most of these proposals that are here. Otherwise, in other parts of the world, many of the proposals that are here will appear like obvious things. 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."
}