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"id": 220136,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/220136/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. J.K. Koech",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for East African Community",
"speaker": {
"id": 310,
"legal_name": "John Kipsang Koech",
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move:- THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Article 50(1) of the Schedule to the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community Act, 2000; this House approves the East African Community (Election of Members of the Assembly) Draft Rules laid on the Table of the House on Tuesday, 22nd May, 2007. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as we are all aware of the East African Court of Justice judgement, it became necessary that we draft rules for election of Members of the East African Legislative Assembly. So, these rules may be cited as \"The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (Election of Members of the Assembly) Rules, 2007\". In these Rules, the parliamentary words and expressions used have the same meanings as assigned to them in the Standing Orders of the National Assembly, unless the content otherwise requests. \"Candidate\" means a person who is nominated to stand for election of the East African Legislative Assembly. \"Election\" means an election of the East African Legislative Assembly. \"Nomination\" means nomination as a candidate to stand for election of the East African Legislative Assembly. \"Party\" means a parliamentary political party. \"Party leader\" means the leader of Government Business, the Leader of the Official Opposition or any other party leader of any party entitled to make a nomination under these rules, and \"Returning Officer\" means the Clerk of the National Assembly. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on qualification, no person shall be qualified to stand for election unless he or she is qualified to be elected in accordance with Article 50(2) of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community. The number of candidates a party shall be entitled to nominate for election under these Rules shall be determined by the Clerk of the National Assembly, and shall be the figure arrived at by multiplying the number of elected Members of the National Assembly of that party by nine and dividing the result by the total number of elected Members of the National Assembly. That is how we share the positions. In order to be validly nominated as a candidate for election, a person shall be nominated by a political party through its Parliamentary Group meetings in the form set out in the Schedule shown. Two, there shall be attached to the nomination form of the candidate, an extract of the nomination proceedings of the Parliamentary Group meeting which approved the nomination of the candidate, signed by the party leader of the Parliamentary Group and the Party Whip. The Returning Officer shall receive and forward to the House Business Committee the document referred to in Rule 5. the House Business Committee shall consider the nominees of the parties forwarded to it under Rule 6, and ensure that the requirements of Article 50 of the Treaty are fulfilled. Upon the House Business Committee being satisfied that the requirements of Rule 7 have been complied with, the Chairperson of the House Business Committee, or any other authorised Member of the Committee, shall give notice of a Motion seeking the election of the nominees to the East African Legislative Assembly. The National Assembly shall, within seven sitting days from the date of receipt of the names under Rule 6, consider the Motion and adopt it with or without amendments. An amendment to substitute a nominee may only be moved by the party leader of the party seeking to substitute and may only be in respect of a nominee of such party. After all the amendments, if any, have been disposed of, the Speaker shall put the Question and such Question shall be determined by the Members present and voting in accordance with provisions of the Standing Orders. 1584 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 23, 2007 Mr. Speaker, Sir, the provision of Part XI, which is about the Divisions, of the Standing Orders shall apply in the event of a Division. The Speaker shall declare to be duly-elected as Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, the nine persons elected pursuant to the provisions of Rules 8 and 9. After the Speaker declares the persons elected as Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, the Clerk of the National Assembly shall publish the names in the Kenya Gazette and transmit to the Secretary-General of the East African Community, the names of the elected Members as published in the Kenya Gazette. With regard to determination of the validity of the candidates, any question that may arise, whether a person is an elected Member of the East African Legislative Assembly, or whether the seat in that Assembly is vacant, shall be determined by the High Court of Kenya. The procedure, jurisdiction and grounds for an election petition in respect of Members of Parliament shall apply, with necessary modifications, in respect of Members of the East African Legislative Assembly. Where the seat of Member elected under these Rules becomes vacant, the Speaker shall, upon receipt of notification of the vacancy from the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly, facilitate the election of a Member to replace the Member in accordance with the procedure set out under these Rules. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if any matter arises, which is not specifically provided for in these Rules, the Speaker shall make a ruling, directing what should be done, and in making such a ruling, the Speaker shall be guided by the practice and procedure normally followed in similar situations with regard to the conduct of elections in the National Assembly. These Rules also mean that the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (Election of Members of the Assembly) Rules, 2001, are repealed. We all know why we have got these rules. The previous election of Members of the East African Legislative Assembly was declared null and void by the East African Court of Justice. So, these Rules, which have been drafted in consultation with various party groups, will allow this House to elect Members of the East African Legislative Assembly. The previous procedure did not allow for the election of the Members of the East Legislative Assembly. The previous Rules provided that once the House Business Committee finalised the list, it was only brought to the House for authentication, but there would be no election. The Speaker would not put the Question. However, these Rules will allow the Speaker to put the Question and hon. Members to elect Members of the East African Legislative Assembly. Therefore, I want to appeal to hon. Members that there has been a delay in re- constituting the East African Legislative Assembly, and this has caused a lot of untold problems to the integration process of the East African Community. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there have been a lot of complaints, and it is important that this House today adopts these Rules, so that we can go straight and elect Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, because at the moment, the legislative arm of the East African Community is totally paralysed. This is a community we are building, which is giving a lot of economic development to the people of East Africa. Kenya is benefiting so much from the community. So, it is very important that, as a House, we fast-track the election of the Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, so that we are no longer looked upon as a Kenya that is killing the East African Community. So, it is important, hon. hon. Members, that, for the operation of the East African Community, we speed up the election of these Members, so that we send them to Arusha even next week, because the Budget of the East African Legislative Assembly, which normally comes earlier than our own Budget, is supposed to come up any time. However, this is not possible because the Members of the East African Legislative Assembly have not been sworn in, because the other partner States are waiting for Kenyan Members. Once this House allows the election of the May 23, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1585 Members of the East African Legislative Assembly, the paralysis that exists in Arusha will end, and the operation of the East African Community will be facilitated, so that we continue with all the activities of the East African Community. In the court ruling, it was also found that there is need for harmonisation of election rules in all the partner States. We are still at the initial stages of our integration process, and there are quite a good number of issues which need to be resolved. These are some of the issues which have come up. So, I want to appeal to hon. Members that we adopt these Rules. These are only the Rules. It is not an election. These Rules will allow Members of Parliament to make a decision. The decision is not going to be made by the House Business Committee, but by Members of Parliament. Once the names have been laid on the Table here, hon. Members are going to make a decision. So, I want to plead that we accept the rules so that we move towards electing Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). As we know, the rules were set and there were no elections. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with these few remarks, I beg to move."
}