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"id": 224546,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/224546/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Muturi",
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"speaker": {
"id": 215,
"legal_name": "Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I hope I may not necessarily take the entire 25 minutes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, last week during my contribution to this Bill, I indicated that this is a welcome proposition. During the long recess, all of us have been saying that among the issues that we need to look into, as a House, is the enactment of this law. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, looking at the proposal on the Bill, I take issue with Clause 1. For clarity I will read:- 936 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 25, 2007 \"This Act may be cited as the Political Parties Act (2007) and shall come into operation on such day as the President may by notice in the Gazette appoint.\" Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I take issue with this provision because knowing the way political parties have been treated in this country in the recent past, if we leave the operationalisation of this Bill to the President to decide when the law takes effect, we run the risk of the law not being operationalised this year. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have all been clamouring for this particular law. Therefore, in as much as I support the Bill, I would be proposing that a time-frame be set so that it is definite that after the law has been assented to by the President within the framework contained in the Constitution, then the operational date is clear to everybody. For example, that three months after the Bill has been assented to by the President or two months as the House shall direct, then the law will take effect so that all political parties in the country, thereafter, will begin to operate within the provisions of this particular law. Therefore, it is my proposal that at the Committee Stage, appropriate amendments be introduced which should carry the support of the entire House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I had indicated that one of the qualifications is that a party shall not be registered if it is ethnic, age or gender based and that a political party must garner 5 per cent of national vote in the last two general elections. My query with that provision is, in as much as I do not support the existence of briefcase political parties or parties for purchase, we should provide that the national votes must be calculated on the basis of the electoral votes obtained by that political party in the presidential, if it had a presidential candidate, parliamentary and civic elections. This is so that we do not kill parties that could very well have had a number of civic leaders spread countrywide but did not present a presidential candidate. If the national vote is calculated on that basis, then I believe that there is merit in giving some threshold. Last time, I gave an example of the small parties that could have one or two Members of Parliament in the last general election. Even in the coming general election, they will have one or two Members of Parliament. They also have a few councillors. We should make clear provisions, that if after two consecutive elections, a party does not garner a specific percentage to be stipulated, just like the 5 per cent which is stipulated here, but has got councillors and Members of Parliament elected, then those Members of Parliament will cease to belong to that political party and either must choose another party or become independent Members. That is, they do not belong to any other political party. At the end of their term, when their party is proscribed by the operation of law - that is what the Bill proposes - then they will either revert to being independent or they will be expected to join any other political party. We should not jeopardise the existence of those Members that may have been elected on those political party tickets. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I indicated that there is need for us to provide a minimum threshold of the budgetary allocation annually by the Minister for Finance. That should be made mandatory. The Minister for Finance must be given some threshold to operate from. It may not necessarily be a percentage. It could as well be a particular threshold that he must not go through. I am saying that to avoid a situation where unnecessarily too many political parties--- I carried this Gazette Notice of 13th April, 2007 just to demonstrate the bizarre situation that obtains in this country. When I went through it, I was surprised to see some symbols here. I saw a hoe, a star, spectacles et cetera . You cannot believe it; they are 70. Some of them include, a small hut and an omnibus. The one known as Movement for Democratic Advancement Party of Kenya has a symbol of an omnibus. I have never heard of this. The other symbol is a small broom. There are so many and one wonders what it is that we are doing. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if all these parties are going to benefit from national resources, we must make clear legal provisions as to why they should so benefit. What we are trying to do is to create the institution of a political party as a clearly defined institution that qualifies for funding April 25, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 937 from the national kitty. Therefore, we must demand that those institutions should have certain qualifications and criteria. The mere fact that a party begins from a particular region does not in itself become a reason why a party should not be registered. The parties should be given room and opportunity to grow. I want to welcome a provision in the Bill that a party will not be deregistered if within two general elections, it is able to garner the stated threshold or any other threshold that Parliament may set. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the reason why I am saying that we should not also try to stifle the growth of parties from regions, is because we have seen that even in the developed countries, for instance in Germany, the Greens began as a tiny party but today, it is a very serious party within the Republic of Germany. Therefore, it is important that whatever provision we set should not appear as if we are trying to stifle others' efforts. I would want a provision within this Bill that recognizes the formation of coalitions. I am happy to note that the Committee on the Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs in their Report which was tabled here yesterday, proposes in a new Clause V(a), that where two or more political parties resolve to form a coalition before or after an election, the instruments of the coalition agreement shall be deposited with the Registrar for purposes of arbitration between the coalition parties under this Act. This is a very good provision. It is, of course, informed by the current problems that befell NARC. There was no proper machinery under which the various groups came together to form the political party or the political outfit called NARC. This is a good innovation and I hope that both sides of the House will pass it without any fuss. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important that when political parties agree, those agreements should be put in writing and deposited somewhere so that, whenever disagreements occur, like we are seeing here--- We have problems with the nomination of Members to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). Those disagreements could be resolved quite easily by either the Registrar or a tribunal which the Committee, once again, and I commend their efforts, also proposes! The Committee has proposed a Political Parties Disputes Arbitration Tribunal (PPDAT), which should be able to resolve those kind of disputes within the shortest time possible. That is very important. If we leave all manner of disputes to be resolved in our court system, and especially disputes of a political nature, we run the risk of making the political situation in this country polarised and volatile. Our court system is too slow! One does not need to go far than to look at the election petitions that were filed after the 2002 General Elections. Several of them have not been determined to date. Therefore, disputes between and within political parties should be, as a first instance, resolved elsewhere other than within the judicial or the courts system. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is a proposal to limit individuals to contribute a maximum of Kshs1 million to political parties. Should individuals feel that they want to contribute more than the Kshs1 million, they should seek permission from the Registrar. I am not able to understand the logic, if any, of that requirement. A sum of Kshs1 million may sound as big money today. But we are not making this law for today. The law should be made in such a way that--- We are looking for transparency. We have stated in the Bill that all donations and monies coming from the Treasury--- Indeed, I think it should be monies appropriated by Parliament to go to the Political Parties Fund (PPF). If we have also provided that other donations, which must be disclosed--- What is important is that, whoever donates to a political party, whether in cash or in kind, that donation should be made available for inspection. There is a record of it and the Registrar is made aware. If there is a certain political party, such as the one called Sisi na Nyinyi or Nyinyi kwa Wao --- If there is a political party like that one---"
}