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{
    "id": 35370,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/35370/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 385,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Transport",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have said that once you join a political party, there are rules. If you then decide that you are going against the grain, then you have no business being part of that party. Collective responsibility within a party means that when a party decides it is moving east, you cannot have some hon. Members looking west. That is basically the kind of party discipline we deserve in this country. If we have to anchor political democracy and mature democracy in this country, that is the way to go. I am a firm supporter of party discipline. I will continue supporting that. It is important to support party’s position if we have to make decisions again going by our national aspirations. We want issue-based politics rather than personality based politics. It is the personality-based politics that keep dissuading people from their egos. At the risk of sounding rude, in management when you believe in one thing and you start acting in another way, it is a phenomena referred to as intellectual prostitution. You believe this is right, but you are acting on another thing because of external gains to what you believe in. This is the kind of thing we need to remove through this Bill and the enactment of enabling legislation to bring that discipline. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, just a quick one on mergers. I know political parties have been allowed to merge. However, there is an issue and I know we discussed it before with the Minister and he did promise to have it and I hope he will not forget to bring it as amendments at the Committee Stage. This is the issue of the fate of members of a political party who are affected by a merger. When two parties merge, not everyone would feel comfortable to then move into the merged party. We do not have to feel that they must now be bulldozed because it changes the whole orientation of why they joined the first party in the first place. We need to give that protection to them. It is already there and it was used during the merger of KANU and NDP. I do remember hon. Shem Ochuodho and another had to be given special dispensation because they were not obliged to join the new outfit. At the same time, you do not lose your parliamentary seat just because your party has merged. We need that protection and I believe the Minister will bring some amendments to that effect."
}