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{
    "id": 27700,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/27700/?format=api",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 68(2) on page 972 relates to what I said earlier on. It reads:- “A person who is convicted of an offence under this Part shall, subject to any express provision to the contrary in any written law relating to an election- (a) not eligible to be registered as a voter;” Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I cannot imagine anything more draconian and dictatorial. The fact that a person has been convicted of an election offence does not make him ineligible to vote. They can vote for others. I do not see why they should be disenfranchised. It further reads:- “(b) not vote at any election. (c) not eligible to be elected at any election; and----.” We should go back to the old law, and this is what we did in the IPPG. If you are convicted of an offence, first you are punished with a fine or custodial sentence or both. If you are a Member of Parliament or any electoral level, you lose out on that term, but you can be eligible to stand in the next term because you cannot punish a person continuously. If our punishment process is to reform individuals, then we cannot confine a person. Maybe, your youths engaged in a fight somewhere during elections and you should not be barred from standing for any election in the future or removed from any poll register forever, as the Bill provides. I urge the Minister to seriously look at this. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are many clauses that I would like to touch on, but I can see my colleagues are restless because they also want to speak. I would like to tell the Minister that those that I have not touched on, I have prepared a written memorandum and I will forward it to him so that he can enrich this Bill. I beg to support this Bill."
}