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"id": 174972,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
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"legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Bill, which is a milestone in the change process. My support is predicated on the wider need for change as we move this country from where it was, to where we want it to be. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, while supporting the Bill, I just want to make it very clear that I am supporting this Bill on very clear understanding that by appointing the Independent Electoral Commission, we are not passing a vote of wholesale condemnation on ECK. I think it is important to recognise members of staff and the Commissioners. There are professionals who were recruited from their jobs. They have families who are being condemned every day for things that, perhaps, they never did or do not know. At some point, we will actually need to identify who was guilty and who was innocent. Those who are guilty should be punished accordingly. Those who are innocent should be cleared accordingly. Through this Bill, we could be saying that the careers of all those Commissioners and staff have been doomed. For anyone looking at their CVs, they could say: \"You served in the ECK. You are one of the people who stole an election in Kenya.\" Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think it is important that, as Parliament, we owe this duty for the welfare of society and just government of men. They are men and women who are part of this society. So, it is important that we look at that because even as we look at the ECK, it is being remodified. In 1992, through the IPPG, it was modified with more names being added. Did the December 16, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4137 elections become freer or fairer? We saw by-elections after that. I think there was one in Machakos. We saw fights on television. Nothing was happening. No actions were being taken. We are part of the problem and I think it is important that we, as the leaders, also identify that, apart from cleaning up the ECK, unless we clean our acts together, unless everyone cleans their acts, it does not matter whether we put angels in the new Independent Electoral Commission or human beings. We will be back here when we do not get the outcome that we deserve. We will be back here saying that the elections have been rigged. I saw the propaganda and misinformation that was rolling in the airwaves before the December, 2007 general elections. Everyone and the whole world was convinced that the elections were going to be rigged even before the election day. So, what did you expect even if you had angels in the ECK? So, the point I am making here is that it does not matter who we put in that Independent Electoral Commission, if we do not give them the respect and trust, space, independence and stop interfering with them. The interference should not come from the Government, Opposition or people who are aspiring. If we do not have that, we will never have a credible institution that we would say has delivered at the next level. I think that also comes to the Boundaries Commission. Already, issues are being raised about what we are doing with the districts. There are already murmurs here about who will be in the 27 members list. I am sure if we start our suspicions from even the formation of the Committee that is going to appoint those eight or nine Commissioners, then we have got it wrong from the word go. We have to get a sense of trust in the institutions that we create and the people who will offer those responsibilities will be held to account on specific issues rather than wholesale condemnation. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I really do not want to say much. I just wanted to have that put on record and really say: I know that out there, among the hundreds of members of staff and Commissioners, there are some decent members of society who would not have agreed to be used. We owe them their professionalism. They have done a good job. Even as the Commissioners go home, I believe we are all here because they did their job. If we really thought that they were so bad, perhaps, we should be walking out with them. But because we trust them to the extent that they brought us here, then it is only fair that we all support the creation of a mechanism that would identify who among them did things wrongly or rightly. Those who did right, let us uphold their names and dignity. Those who did wrong, let us know what punishment should await them, so that it sends a signal even to the new ones that would be coming. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the meantime, as I wind up, I would really want to record the thanks of the people of Kipipiri to all the good people who served in the ECK as Commissioners or staff for taking us this far. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}