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{
    "id": 1519015,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1519015/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 224,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "I can see Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale is looking at me. If Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale sends somebody to represent him at a function in Malinya, and that person has questionable character like, for instance, is a night runner, murderer or has bad manners generally, the reputation of that person rubs on you as a candidate. I want to say very clearly that there is a consensus that there was nothing wrong with our candidate. The problem, as I see it and I understand it, is the bad manners of the Republic that he was fronted by. I want to go through those bad manners because it is something that is worrying to us. People make decisions based on how they feel about you and your relationship with them. I believe the election of the AU Chairperson was no different. We were all very perturbed when, a few months ago, some leaders of a rebel movement were granted an opportunity to speak from our shows here. I want to distinguish what Hon. Raila Odinga believes in, the things that I know he believes in, and the positions that have been taken by our country that are diametrically opposed to the things that he believes in. Raila Odinga is a democrat; he would never support the appending of power other than by means of the democratic process. He would never support a situation where you have people who are threatening peace and stability in a neighbouring country, and you grant them a stage for them to perpetuate the division in their own home. So, Madam Temporary Speaker, you have this Africanist who believes in democracy, who believes in the democratically elected government in the DRC, and then you have your own country, the sponsoring country, allowing the rebel movement to have a stage in our Republic, to say things and undermine democratically elected governments back home. Secondly, there are certain things that I believe, like global conflicts, that I admit that maybe I do not have the solution to. However, when your country takes a position on that, you instantly make enemies and friends. The clearest example to me is the conflict in the Middle East. This is one of the most complex global conflicts. Many people have gotten to a place where we feel that even the proposed solutions that used to appear like they could work, as days go by and the events in the Middle East continue to unfold, we start to feel like maybe there is no solution to these problems. Hon. Raila Odinga is my party leader. I have heard him publicly take a position to support the Palestinian people and say that they have a right to a home. That is the position of the candidate. Now, what is the position of the sponsoring country? When the sponsoring country takes up an opposite position to the candidate, then it presents a problem. So, these conflicts between the position of the candidate and the position taken by the Government, I believe, contributed to the situation that we are in right now. Of course, all of us know that once a conflict erupted in the DRC, there were certain notions, especially from countries and players in that particular country, that Kenya's position was not a position that was advancing the security and peace of the DRC. We have a very strong voting bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC). You know the position that they took at the AUC. One of the 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."
}