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"speaker_name": "Mr. J.M. Mutiso",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this chance. From the outset, I would like to support the Political Parties Bill. I wish to thank and congratulate the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs for expediting the drafting of this Bill. I think much has been said about the Political Parties Bill. I would like to say that we did not have a written law to regulate the conduct of political parties in this country. Therefore, it is quite in order and timely, particularly this year when we have elections. I think it is good to have a frame-work to enable political parties to participate in a fair manner. Currently, political parties are governed by the Societies Act. It is a wide policy that deals with the registration of bodies that further common interests. The Societies Act has allowed the proliferation of so many political parties in this country. The last tally I had was more than 50 political parties. I think it has now gone up to 70 parties. Therefore, for a small country like ours, it is quite unproductive or illogical to have so many political parties purporting to further the ideals of democracy. Again, because of that weak legislation, we have a problem in the way political parties are managed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, as I stand here, I can say without any fear of contradiction that, many political parties, either parliamentary or otherwise, personify certain personalities. They do not have ideals or philosophies. Therefore, even in our normal discussions, we keep on referring to political parties as \"luminary led\". Who is behind a certain political party? Who are the personalities behind the political parties? But many citizens do not identify themselves with certain political parties because they explore certain principles or ideals. They do so merely because they are just fans of particular personalities who identify themselves with a particular political party. Therefore, I think it is a high time we came up with a framework to de-personify political parties and prevent them from being luminary-based, luminary-led or baron-based. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is almost a determined case that some aspirants for civic and parliamentary seats have to pledge their loyalty to particular personalities to be cleared at the nomination stage or be nominated to various positions. I think the Political Parties Bill will come up with a clear framework in which political parties will have structures and organs. Aspirants would be elected based on certain criterion which is not individual based. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to make my final comment, particularly on the issue of funding and accounts of political parties. Clause 22 of the Bill pertains to the sources of money to be put in the Fund. I think there are two aspects which have been mentioned here as possible sources of funding political parties. The first aspect of funding is from the Minister for Finance in the annual Estimates. Once this policy has been passed, it would become a regular feature to fund political parties. Therefore, it is also important to lay a framework to show how much money will be given to a particular political party. As it is now, the funding would be determined by the Minister for Finance. It will depend on the mood and whims of the Minister at 1010 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 26, 2007 that particular moment. I would like to suggest that we put a mechanism, either a percentage or a quantum where political parties will know they will have a particular pool from where they can access funds. For example, we can have 0.5 per cent or even 1 per cent of the ordinary revenue collections of the country. I think this is much more certain and predictive. It will enable us to know exactly how much money will be available in a particular financial year through the Ministry. However, as it were, the Minister could wake up one morning and say that we do not have funds or perhaps the economy is not doing very well, therefore, there will be no money. I am proposing that the Minister should look into that and perhaps bring an amendment at the Committee stage to remedy that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in part (b), I, again, have a problem with that, particularly on donations and contributions to the fund from \"any other source\". I think that is also very dangerous because any other source of money includes money that has been laundered. Therefore, I do not know whether it will be prudent for this country to have money wired from a remote corner of this country into the Exchequer Account for purposes of political parties. That would be very dangerous! We have to be very clear on: Which are these other sources? I think the Minister will look into that so that we do not have dirty money coming into the national kitty in the name of funding political parties. This is something we need to look into and come up with a solution for it. Finally, for purposes of the fund, I am supporting the other objectives which have been stated there. However, I, again, have a problem with 23(b) on the purposes of the fund. They include \"promoting active participation of individual citizens in political life\"; this is in order. They also include covering the election expenses of political party--- However, I have a problem with the part on; \"the broadcasting of the policies of the political party\". I think, again, that aspect is also very risky. We know that broadcasting, particularly commercial broadcasting, is very expensive. As we speak today, Citizen Media has taken the Government to court demanding over Kshs700 million for advertising during the Referendum. Broadcasting is a higher level of media and, therefore, I think if we say for purposes of publicity, without particularly prescribing broadcasting, we will also be addressing the purposes of the fund. I, therefore, entirely support the Bill and hope that we will pass this framework before we approach the Elections. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}