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    "id": 306851,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/306851/?format=api",
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    "content": "Christianity today. Our founding President was unjustly convicted by the colonial regime. He ruled this country for 15 years and went to his maker with that conviction still standing. Nelson Mandela was convicted and sentenced as a terrorist, one of the worst crimes you can prosecute anybody on. He came out and is now described as a living saint. What am I saying? If you want to say that in this country, if an 18 or 20 year old drives a car and knocks down a person and he dies – anyone of you can do this – that automatically disqualifies that person from ascending to any leadership position, that is stretching our imagination to ridiculous levels. We are not creating a leadership of saints. We are creating a leadership of reasonable people who can respond to the needs of society. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at Clause 13(2) of the Bill it says:- “A person who wishes to be elected to a State office, shall for the purposes of this section submit to the Commission a self-declaration in the form set out in the First Schedule.” Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Bill does not say what the value of that self-declaration is. What is that self-declaration going to be used for? I think it should be clear in the Bill what it is going to be. But look at the self-declaration. If it is meant to foreclose certain persons from aspiring to leadership, then what we are doing is not right. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on pages 20 and 21there are moral and ethical questions. “Have you ever been debarred and removed from the register of members of your professional organization?” Yes, one can be. A doctor may be disbarred by his organization. Surely that does not remove you from the capacity and ability to represent people as a Member of Parliament. “Have you ever been disbarred as a lawyer?” There are some lawyers, even in this House, who are excellent Members of Parliament, who have been disbarred and they are doing a wonderful job. “Have you ever been dismissed from employment on account of lack of integrity?” That I agree with. “If you have been a public officer, have you ever failed to declare your income?” The income declarations that we have, currently, were meant to be declared and handed to the Speaker and locked away, never to be shown. I think what we need to do now, is what hon. Karua said; that as you walk into office, you must declare what you have. We watch you progressively, what you are acquiring, and see whether or not you are using shortcuts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the next one asks: Have you ever been convicted of any offence and sentenced to serve imprisonment for a period of at least six months? Like I said before, driving offences that are very common, can they be an indication on whether you can be a leader or not? I say not. There are many other petty offences. You are perhaps a trader and you did not know that it was time to renew your licence and then you are convicted by an enthusiastic magistrate and send to jail for over six months. Does that take you out of the leadership realm? I think not. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think that even this request here, we should say what offence. If it is an offence that pertains to dishonesty, then we can understand. However, we cannot just blanketly say, “any offence”. What time were you and if you went to jail, were you corrected by the correctional services? That is why we have those correctional"
}