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"speaker_name": "Mr. G.G. Kariuki",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me accept the feeling of the hon. Member. However, let me tell him that the Registrar is not going to come from heaven. He is the same person that we have in this country. We are talking as if we are going to get a person from heaven to manage political parties. That is the feeling of my friend over there. We are the same people. When we talk about funding political parties and at the same time say the money cannot be used to maintain offices of political parties, I think we are deceiving ourselves. A political party without offices--- We claim that we shall use that money to support publicity and whatever. Mr. Muturi must understand that we have this Bill with us. It is a matter of reading what it says. I just do not want to repeat it by reading because every hon. Member has it. Let me explain my feelings. If there is a political party that we are going to support, first of all, we have to consider employment like we have done with the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). We have to employ full-time officers for political parties. That is the reason I am suggesting that we are rushing this Bill. We are not very serious about it. Let us be serious and accept this is a new idea. As good as this Bill may be, let us be honest to ourselves. If we are not ready to provide political parties with funding, let us shelf this Bill until we are ready. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are rushing this Bill as if the situation has worsened and political parties will not be registered. Under the current law today, without \"Cold War\", which political party cannot be registered? Any political party can be registered. Those that have applied for registration have all been registered! What is the discovery in this Bill? I think time has come when we have to re-look at our maneno here instead of rushing to something that may not be good for this country. I would support any Bill that would fund political parties at the grassroots. Let every branch of a political party be funded by the Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 23(3) says: \"The money allocated by Parliament under this Section shall be distributed as follows---\" It says: \"As follows\", but who decided this and what were the factors considered? Has an angel, who will divide this money, already been born? I think it has to be legal that any political party which has hon. Members in the House gets money without discrimination. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, after passing this Bill, there will mushrooming of political parties. Today, there are 82 political parties but this will rise to 150 very soon; it will not be my surprise because you have opened floodgates. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are other small tribes like where Mr. Muturi comes from that might decide to form their own political party. Therefore, let us be honest to ourselves. Time has come when we want to be seen by the people of this country that when hon. Members are sitting here, they know what they are talking about. For example, when you say that you are not going to receive money from outside this country, what machinery do we have to check on that? Today, no political party is allowed to solicit money outside the country. But are we capable enough to stop them? Who are we to think that we are now capable because this piece of legislation has been passed? That we are now going to stop everybody from getting money from out there, when we have vehicles like the Hummer coming into the country. What power do we have? Why do we cheat the country by creating a situation like this one? I think we are not being genuine. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not believe that this Bill received serious political input from politicians. I think it was a couple of civil servants who sat down and decided that this April 25, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 953 thing needs to be done this way. I am very unhappy because of the way I see things being done here. First of all, we have no power to stop anybody from supporting any political party out there. In fact, if we follow the political history, which political party has been able to survive without support from out there? Which one?"
}