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"id": 225137,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kenyatta",
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"legal_name": "Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Chair is, indeed, aware that I have, on several occasions, asked for its ruling and guidance on many hon. Members from my political party who have crossed the Floor and, indeed, been appointed Ministers in a Government that is formed by a party other than that which gave them mandate in the last general election. The Chair consistently said that it can do nothing until it receive their letters of resignation. How much clearer do we want an issue of defection and Floor crossing to be than when a Member of Parliament elected on one ticket that is in the Opposition stands at the Box on your right and answers Questions on behalf of a Government of a party that he was not elected under? So, the fact that we are actually clarifying and defining is what Floor crossing and resignation from a party means. Adding to the fact that it is not just merely the question of writing to the Chair, but also the actions, words that are spoken by that individual can determine or be used to determine whether that particular individual has actually moved from one party and belongs to another. However, I would like to see greater clarity on this Bill as to what action is taken on somebody who has actually crossed the Floor. I believe we must expressly specify that a person who belongs to one party, but who resigns or crosses and joins or articulates the policy of another party, and thereby being deemed to have resigned from his party, if he or she is a Member of Parliament or a member of a council, that resignation should be followed by his or her resignation as a Member of Parliament and as a councillor in order to seek a fresh mandate on his or her new party. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also believe the issue of political party funding is long overdue. Corruption has been a vice that has ailed this country for a long time. A number of the biggest scandals that this country has seen have, in one way or another, been associated with political party activity, electioneering and campaigning. There is need to find resources to finance political activity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have also seen the inability of parties to go beyond personalities and to be more issue-based. Why? Once again, this is because political parties have been seen again as fiefdoms of those who have the resources to keep political parties and programmes afloat. By saying that the state will take on the responsibility of funding of political parties, this needs greater transparency in the way in which political parties manage their affairs and finances. It means an opening up of different shades of political opinion and activity from those that were previously excluded because they could not finance their political activities. Ultimately, I believe it will result in a greater say by those who previously have been muzzled as a result of lack of financing. I believe that with state funding of political parties, the issue of personality cults can stand to disappear. We can, indeed, see the beginning and blossoming of issue-based politics. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is one issue that I believe needs to be given greater attention in this particular Bill. As we all know, the 2002 General Election was won by a coalition of parties. We all saw them as they held hands and signed a document called Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). However, today, we have forgotten that it was a coalition that won and now say that it is an individual party that is in power. We have seen the kind of confusion once again that particular situation has brought to this House. I believe that within this April 19, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 801 law, we need to elaborate and strengthen or at least have a law that allows and governs coalitions, so that when two political parties that have similar interests, ideals and objectives get together and decide to pool their resources, there is a law that allows for that kind of operation to exist. A law that will then govern both prior to an election and post an election, the relationship between those two, three or four political entities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the things that have killed or threatened to destroy the very fabric of our nation, is ethnicity, and the issue of ethnic-based politics in our country. I am, indeed, happy to see that, that issue has been dealt with, in quite some detail, in this particular Bill. We need to begin to address ourselves as Kenyans. The voice of the people is normally expressed by the politicians. It is my belief that Kenyans, themselves, are not necessarily tribal. But rather, it is the political leadership in the land that uses ethnicity to advance personal agenda. Consequently, the time has come for us to silence those voices that seek to divide and have one Kenyan fight against the other, for personal objectives and thus, retard our ability to work together as a united people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that said and done, I also believe that we need to make room for and accommodate special interests. There are individuals or communities that have specific interests, that they may feel are not necessarily best articulated by a national party. Therefore, we need to accommodate some of these voices, in order to ensure that nobody is locked out of national debates or politics. I believe by so doing, that too, will force national parties to begin to take more seriously specific regional inequalities that have continued to persist in our country since Independence. There is no need for sections of our nation to consistently feel neglected or left out, simply because their voice is not necessarily that loud. As I argued when making my comments on the President's Speech, it is that kind of mentality that sees some regions of our country neglected and makes them be seen as basket cases; for example, North Eastern Province and upper Eastern Province. They are seen as a burden or areas which require aid and yet, we have countries like Botswana which have lesser livestock than some of those regions. The export proceeds in Botswana are basically equivalent to those that we receive from the sale of Tea. Those people need to have a voice. If their voice will not been accommodated in national parties, then they must have a way of expressing their views and feelings, in order to ensure that nobody is left marginalised, because that, again, is reversed discrimination by the majority against the minority. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I conclude, we need to look at the Political Parties Bill not in isolation, but as part and parcel of the overall need for Constitutional reforms in our country. As long as we cannot guarantee the independence of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), even if we move the Registrar of Societies to the ECK, we will have done nothing. We need, as we have been advocating and pushing for essential reforms, to ensure that we have an independent Electoral Commission, with independent Commissioners. We need an Electoral Commission that has teeth to act independently from the Executive. These reforms plus many others, will all go a long way to ensuring that the hard-earned gains of democracy in this country are not lost. As the Minister has urged, I hope that we shall move together, as a House, in passing this Bill. I call upon hon. Members, especially during the Committee Stage, to critically look at every Section with a view of strengthening this Bill, so as to ensure that the democratic gains that have been made are not lost. In the same spirit, the President recently took the initiative to bring about dialogue on the need for essential constitutional reforms. I do hope that the same bi-partisan spirit, that the Minister has called for, will be seen in our Constitutional debate that we have currently started under the chairmanship of the Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to second this Bill and call upon all hon. 802 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 19, 2007 Members to support it, with that bi-partisan spirit that the Minister has called for."
}