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{
    "id": 1494720,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494720/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 437,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13217,
        "legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
        "slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
    },
    "content": "The other day, we did not trust use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in elections. Now, we want to trust it. There is a time we were told that there was José Camargo somewhere. There is also a time we were told that servers were in France. You all remember the famous phrase, “ fungua server”. Others said that it was in the USA, but we have a time difference. I am happy that this Bill seeks to amend the Elections Act to include a Kenyan passport as a form of identification and registration of candidates, which is good. In Clause 3(a), I agree that if people have not been registered as voters, registration, opening and inspection of the voters’ register should be suspended until a by-election or referendum is done. When the late hon. Sen. Mutula Kilonzo passed on, the victim was the sister to the current Governor of Makueni because she had not registered as a voter. A by-election could be happening in Vihiga or Banissa, for example. If I come from Banissa but vote in Nairobi, the law should not allow me to participate in the by-election in Banissa. I agree with this provision, so that we do not have ambulance chasers for parliamentary seats. The famous ambulance chaser is one, Baba Yao, hon. Ferdinand Waititi. He contested in Embakasi when unfortunately, the former MP from Kiambu who worked as a unionist was killed. When there was an opportunity to become the Governor of Kiambu, he went to contest. This provision will curtail such. The former governor, hon. Sonko, was also trying to be an expert in that. After failing here, he wanted to run as the Governor of Mombasa, yet I am sure he was a voter in this City. There are people like Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale who may want to become governors. We do not want to have a situation where somebody who is an MP in Nairobi wakes up one day and decides to run for Governor of Kakamega, yet those people do not know who they are. Let us bring sanity and hygiene to our politics. I agree with Clause 6. I know that 60 days are sufficient to rectify your particulars as a voter. We know that happened in Banissa. There is also a ward in Kakamega that has a similar challenge after the MCA was killed. On the issue of referendum, I agree that 60 days are sufficient to enable one to rectify their particulars. The fourth point I wanted to make is about Clause 27 on a coalition political party. For example, before we went to the elections of 2022, some of us who served in the 10th Session were being pushed to amend the law and create a coalition political party. I remember Sen. Otsotsi was in the National Assembly. The proponents then were in power and came up with something called Azimio Coalition. I am happy that in the new Session, the definition of a coalition party became a challenge and we are where we were in the beginning. With the broad-based Government, those things are no longer relevant. A coalition political party should submit a copy of their agreement to the Registrar of Political Parties. Are you aware that it is only Kenya-Kwanza Coalition agreement that was given to the Registrar of Political Parties and made public in the last session. No one made public the Azimio Coalition Agreement to date, unless there is contrary information outside there. We want everybody to be equal before the law."
}