Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1569507,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1569507/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 462,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "will think about political parties’ overreach. Since they have their own constitutions as societies, then they are bound by those constitutions to act when they feel there is a breach. Political parties funding is a very important element of our budget especially when we shall budget for this office. Huge sums of money are supposed to be paid to political parties and there are huge arrears. This year alone I think we are paying about Ksh1.9 billion to political parties in the proposed Budget. I know the last couple of years we have had to reduce that budget to cater for more urgent needs because we felt funding political parties may not be equivalent to even making provision for the Kenya Prisons Service. It is now clear-cut that political parties have to be funded. This is where we are calling for accountability such that if a political party was lucky enough to get a Member of County Assembly (MCA), a Member of Parliament or certain votes which qualify it to get some money from the public coffers, then that political party must be prepared to account for the money in the most meticulous manner. The auditors, including the Committee of Hon. Wamboka, would have to move in and ensure… Hon. Wamboka, I think is on Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education but we have the Public Accounts Committee. They have to be audited so that this money is accounted for. For sure we know that some of parties are out there waiting for the money because they have no other source of income. If that is the case, we are going to grow our political parties by making the provisions. There will be no problem except if the money is sent to political parties for hungry politicians who will actually swindle the money immediately it is received. This will have nothing to do with any political party and therefore it will be misapplication of public resources. This goes with what I keep asking: which parties are we growing in the country? Some of the parties that were started at Independence today are pale shadows of themselves including the long time former ruling party Kenya African National Union (KANU). Today it is a pale shadow of itself. Other parties like the Democratic Party of Kenya on which I was elected on during my first term here today cannot boast of anything apart from one Member of Parliament, and one Senator. Now that the Member of Parliament has gone to the Public Service, it has only one Senator. There are many others that have not been able to live like FORD – Asili and others; all of them are gone. Which political parties are we growing? Would they stand the test of time? If you look at the English position, there are two parties; the Tories and the Labour Party which have been existence from the 17th century or thereabout. If you look at the Americans, they have their Republican and Democratic Parties. They have also been existence since the early 18th century and they have withstood the test of time. Will our parties withstand the test of time or will they continue being a one man show dominated by the principals who once they change their minds, those parties also change their minds into the new outfit that is going to form? We will be asking all these are questions as we continue to study the relevance and implementation of the Political Party’s Fund to see whether it is serving the desired purpose or not. With those very many remarks, I beg to second. Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}