Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 390417,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/390417/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 182,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Executive fails to meet its obligations, then the Executive will be committing what I may call Constitutional treason. It is the responsibility of this Senate and, indeed, of Parliament as a whole to remind the Executive of its responsibility and to ensure that this Constitution is not ignored, undermined and neglected through constitutional irresponsibility by the Executive. Today, we move a Motion which is extremely important. One; if the Executive attempts to allocate political parties monies other than what is provided for in the Constitution, that will be unconstitutional and illegal. Two; if the Executive continues to delay in undertaking its constitutional obligations, indeed, the very basis of forming political parties and Government will be fundamentally undermined. This is already being fundamentally undermined. As a Secretary General of a major party, the party with the highest number of Members in the current National Assembly, as a single party, it is my responsibility to speak on behalf of other parliamentary political parties and, indeed, political parties in general to ensure that this responsibility is met by the state. There was a time, before multiparty politics and way before we enacted this progressive Constitution, that even to speak of forming another political party was treasonable. I remember when we were trying to form the National Democratic Party (NDP) in 1991, the precursor of the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD), we had to hide and do things at night. We had to meet in the farm of Dr. Munyua Waiyaki up here in Red Hill at 6.00 a.m. in the morning on Sundays and finish our meetings by 9.00 am so that as people go to church, we also emerge from there to go to church so that we are not suspected by the Special Branch because of what we were doing. Those days, my friend, G.G. Kariuki, was ready to pounce on anybody who was undermining the security of the State. I was lucky because I escaped to Mexico as he had my name on his desk ready to sign it to detention. We have come a long way. Therefore, we should not subject political parties to unnecessary torture by not being able to carry out activities which are constitutionally provided for. Today, we as individuals are compelled to lend money to our political parties to operate under very difficult circumstances and yet we know this should be provided for by the State. It is not a favour. It is a right for political parties. Therefore, there should be no attempt to roll back or wind the clock back so that political parties beg the state to undertake its constitutional obligation. I hope that with immediate effect, what this Motion is demanding for from the State will be responded to immediately. However, we understand that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) does not have valid figures to rely on while distributing money to political parties. Remember the Constitution says very clearly that the Registrar should distribute the Fund on a percentage basis, 95 per cent of which is supposed to be distributed proportionately by reference to the total number of votes secured by each political party in the preceding general election. The general election was held in March and up to now, that aspect of constitutional obligation has not been met. As we understand it, the IEBC does not have valid figures to effect this provision. We have had a record number of petitions, about 171 because of the incompetence of the IEBC. If that is so, then this Commission should be disbanded forthwith and men and women of competence should The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}