Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 34972,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/34972/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 375,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Baiya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 8,
        "legal_name": "Peter Njoroge Baiya",
        "slug": "peter-baiya"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this chance to support this Bill. As is clearly being said by my colleagues, this is a very important Bill as far as the political and social economic evolution of our country’s institutions are concerned. As we debate this Bill, we must also bear in mind what we went through in the past, most notably in the last elections of 2007 where we witnessed chaos. I want to submit part of the reason why we had problems during the last general election - it was also brought out by the Kriegler Commission. This was caused by the unpalatable political culture within our political elite and all other political players. The worst aspect has been failure to uphold or respect democracy, on the part of the State playing a manipulative role as far as administration and regulation of political parties is concerned. The other one has also to do with the conduct of political leaders using political parties as personal entities rather than institutionalized institutions. It is worth noting that the provisions of the Constitution have actually addressed some of these challenges that are of historical origin. Under the provisions made under the Political Parties Bill, fortunately they have really respected that. However, the role of the Registrar of political parties is being integrated with that of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). It is not clear at all why this office should be made an appendage of the IEBC. Why it should not, for instance, be allowed to function independently just as the tribunal is expected to uphold independence in its operations. The other challenge with regard to party leaders and the issue of ethnicity, it is my strong believe that one of the reasons why ethnicity has played a crucial role is obviously because the political players in this country have failed to elevate politics to the level of issue oriented, which can galvanize the population. In the absence of any ideology or any strong and consistent democratic and other ideological basis, only primordial instincts that are played into through the ethnicity card appeal for support. I believe that a consistent practice of democracy over the years will not only isolate this problem of ethnicity, but will also lead to the disappearing of the kind of leaders who practise ethnicity. It is also proof that Kenyans are not sufficiently informed to make decisions other than based on one’s ethnic background. I believe that consistent practice of democracy will elevate Kenyans to issue-based politics as opposed to personality-based politics."
}