{"id":294767,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/294767/?format=json","text_counter":49,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Mr. M. Kilonzo","speaker_title":"The Minister for Education","speaker":{"id":47,"legal_name":"Mutula Kilonzo","slug":"mutula-kilonzo"},"content":" Mr. Chairman, Sir, thank you for noticing me. I saw that my student/pupil here was having a very hard time. I think I should support him. Mr. Chairman, Sir, I think we are making an error in this situation. We are forgetting that a political party is defined by Article 260 of the Constitution. Those who are introducing this amendment are forgetting that they are now interfering with the Constitution itself. The definition of a political party is – for the first time in the history of this country, it has found itself defined; it is an association that meets the requirements of Part III of the Chapter dealing with this issue. This is such a fundamental issue. When you take a party membership card, you subscribe to a Constitution, code of conduct, principles of that party and, above all, you subscribe particularly for nominations to a manifesto. Therefore, if you have already subscribed to a manifesto the opportunity for nomination--- I would urge hon. Members not to confuse the right to nominate a candidate with the right to vote. During the election a member of any party can vote for anybody. I hope that you can vote for Wiper when the opportunity occurs, but how can you, when you are not a member of Wiper, come to nominate a candidate for Wiper? What right do you have? Mr. Chairman, Sir, Article 36 protects your freedom of association; you have your right to associate with whoever you like. Therefore, even the definition of a political party is further strengthened by this right in Article 36. You can associate with whoever you like but why would you go to the house of a different clan so that you go and decide who the head of that family is when you are not a member of that clan? I oppose."}