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"id": 34924,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/34924/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kiunjuri",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Public Works",
"speaker": {
"id": 175,
"legal_name": "Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri",
"slug": "mwangi-kiunjuri"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it will also stabilize the politics of this country. It will be able to guide us on the way forward on whether this political institution will be respected, so that we have parties that are founded on principles, respect the rule of law and also party leaders and members who are disciplined. It will also allow parties to recruit actual members and not supporters. Today, most political parties have very few members, but very many supporters. There are very few parties in this country that can boast of a following of 100,000 members. However, all of them have millions of supporters who are not really committed as political party members. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have political parties in this country that are only vehicles to Parliament or to winning political seats. It is because those members recruited during electioneering period are not members, but supporters. In most cases, they are paid to join the parties instead of them paying to join the party. It is very embarrassing. Today, we are debating the Political Parties Bill that will repeal the Political Parties Act. In this country, we have more than 47 registered political parties. Most of them do not have their members, but supporters. For example, we have so many members who have registered as members of ODM. The same members have registered as members of PNU, GNU, among other parties. This is because they are political merchants. They will go to the highest bidder. Political parties recruit them for the purpose of registration. Clauses 6 deals with conditions for provisional registration, and Clause 7 deals with the conditions for full registration. We are happy that penalties have already been spelt out for those members who will register to belong to more than one political party. Although these penalties are stiff, they are okay. They are good because they will bring sanity into our political parties. Equally, it should be remembered that there is always collusion between the registrar’s office and the political parties. However, the office of registrar either with full knowledge or through act of commission or omission, allow members to double register in more than one political party. So, when it comes to amendments, we shall push to be specific on how to deal with those working in the registrar’s office to ensure that they also do adhere to the rule of law. We will make sure that they will not be conduits of corruption when it comes to registration of members of political parties. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have also read Clause 10 of this Bill on coalitions. Coalitions must be allowed. We must support this because, at the end of the day, we are still on coalitions. Parties in this country are like clubs. There are those who own them; either individuals or cartels. They are just like football clubs whereby we have owners of the football club, the manager, coach and the players. Worse still, they are also meant to come and make money and for entertainment purposes during the campaign period. For the first time, we must make sure that we strengthen this Act. If you look at the manifestos of most political parties, they are similar. That is why they are able to fuse so easily. Now it is very clear that political parties that would like to form a coalition must deposit the instrument of a coalition. There must be proper agreement laid before the Registrar and the Electoral Commission of Kenya, so that when these parties win elections, they will be able to operate in a very smooth way. Coalitions should also be allowed coalitions after the elections because, at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is that since 1998, there have been coalitions in this Government. One, if the Chair will remember very well because he was in this House, in 1998, the National Development Party (NDP) joined KANU in what they called “co- operation”. Subsequently, it emerged to be a merger. Therefore, it was total co- operation because KANU had less Members to form majority in the House. Therefore, they found it prudent to merge with NDP, which joined them. When it came to the elections of 2002, a faction of KANU, LDP and the then NAK joined together to form NARC. That is how NARC came to power. Therefore, NARC was a coalition which had not deposited any instrument with the Registrar of Parties. That is why we did not respect the so called Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). It was not deposited with anybody and it had no legal basis. That is why it is important to avoid what happened within NARC and the subsequent split. It is important that we encourage these coalitions. Secondly, even after NARC split, the NAK now formed a coalition with the Nyachae-led FORD(P). That is how that Government survived for the remaining two years. If you look at what happened in the last general election, it was also again a breakaway of LDP, a breakaway of factions of KANU and then PNU coming together with other political parties. Once again, there are no proper instruments or agreements even today within PNU and ODM. Both parties are not respecting the small parties within them. I know the Chair is a product of a small party in this Parliament and he will bear me witness that most of the heads of the big parties have no respect for small parties because there is no coalition agreement. That is why we should be able to come here, agitate and make sure that proper laws are put in place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the major parties are very dictatorial. They have no respect for individuals. We must allow small parties to grow. The only way you can do that is to ensure that those small parties are protected and respected. It is for the first time that those dictators; those owners of the big parties rise to the occasion and respect those small parties for them to survive. Coalitions will also lead to mergers. Therefore, I support the question of merger because we want limited parties. We want two, three or four strong parties. But how can we do so? We cannot trust each other because today, I want to work with you, but you are not genuine. Therefore, when I join you, you start behaving as if you are untouchable. If I think we can work together and you convince me that it possible for us to work together, then we will be able to merge. Therefore, we shall reach the ultimate goal of having very few parties operating in the country. This is because we shall have built confidence. There will be trust within the parties and be able to work together. When two parties merge, members should not lose their seats in the House. This should be made very clear. This is the way democracy will grow. You must agree that we are a young democracy in this country. You also must agree that other nations are running through coalitions. Very few governments in the world are not working through coalitions. Therefore, when you want to criticize an issue just because you do not like the Minister, it is very unfortunate. We should give it a chance because this is the way to go. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 12 addresses the question of public officers. It is important that we separate completely the appointed public officers and the elected public officers. This is the only way we will point out clearly that an elected public officer should not also be allowed to misuse public funds. You can see what is happening today; all the Cabinet Ministers, including the Vice- President, the Prime Minister and those other presidential hopefuls who are in the Government are misusing public funds. We are lucky that through the new Constitution, we only have the Office of the President and the Vice-President, the Governor and Senators as the elected officers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, most of these people will not have an opportunity to campaign using public funds. Kenyans should note that most of the presidential candidates will come through as politicians. Most of them will be governors, senators and the Vice-President himself. Therefore, we are still open to abuse. It is unfortunate for the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs should note that by saying that Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries cannot misuse public funds because they are not campaigning to become President, Vice-President or elective positions and that he has sieved that area. At the end of the day, we shall have governors who will be using Government funds, vehicles and the influence to campaign as presidents of this country. So, the law must be very clear on the misuse of public funds. The other day, we were debating the issue of the NSIS and the use of public funds. We must seal the loopholes very tightly. The other issue is resignation from a political party. Today, we are playing very dirty politics in this country. We have no respect for political parties and institutions. You want to operate in a very defined way the way you want it to happen. When I am happy with you, I support you and when I am not happy with you, I start challenging you without the respect of the party. For the first time, we should learn how to operate, disagree within a political party and live within that political party. If you have parties that are not based on individuals, then we shall have parties that we respect and not individuals within those parties. Clause 14(4) is very clear that as a Member of Parliament---"
}