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{
    "id": 1494719,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494719/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 436,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13217,
        "legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
        "slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, yes, I am tying up with what is happening in the genesis of the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO). The U.S. is one of the heaviest funders, not only to peace and security, but to elections in this country. She was very supportive and we wish her well in her tour of duty. Secondly, you have to appreciate the cost of election is very expensive. This has been my argument. In the last election of 2022, Kenya spent a whopping Kshs35.8 billion. That translates to Kshs2,000 shillings per voter, which is very expensive across the world. Therefore, we must agree that the election business in Kenya should not be live and dead. You were in the U.S. and you saw people voting by mail. You saw people accepting results graciously. I am happy to hear my brother, Sen. Osotsi, talking about Biden inviting Donald Trump to the White House. Was it today? Therefore, we want a peaceful transition, where people go into an election contest, you lose fairly, and you accept. Mr Temporary Speaker, Sir, what is happening - you have noted in some of your comments - is that, there is a deficit of trust among African countries and, more so, Kenyans. We do not trust each other. The only time Kenyans will trust each other about elections is when Jesus Christ will be the returning officer. We are becoming too prescriptive and subjective on election laws in this country. We are prescribing even how a presiding or returning officer should sign the declaration form at the polling station, county tallying centre, or national tallying centre. We are aware of what happened in 2007/2008 after elections were tampered with. The problem in this country is lack of trust in the institutions we have. People do not even trust Parliament, the Judiciary and the Executive. It behoves us to trust institutions that the Constitution has established. That is why the cost of election is very high in this country. As I speak, there are pending bills that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has not settled. They include matatu operators and people who provided services and goods. The bills are a whopping over Kshs2.05 billion. While I agree with several issues, I think this proposal is just a clean-up of the Elections Act. Having served as the Chair of the Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs in the previous Parliament, we did several amendments on elections, but there was push and pull between the National Assembly and the Senate. Outside the basic issues that affect Kenyans, the most legislated matter in this House and spoken about generally in this country, is the issue of elections. When we go to an election and notice a problem, we come back and legislate. 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."
}