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"content": "people feel cheated, it is a basis for bringing about conflict. It is not about winning or losing, but the process. The process of elections must be free and fair and be seen to be free and fair. We are now faced with a situation – and we, Senators, are prepared to live with it – where the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is telling us that the Treasury and taxpayer gave them Kshs11 billion to invest in technologies that, at the end of the day they said: “That was really not necessary, because the system of voting in Kenya is manual, and the Constitution of Kenya says so, and this Kshs11 billion was not really necessarily mandatory to be spent.” I am glad that some Senators were talking about waste. The country is concerned, and the public is up in arms about Members of Parliament or Senate having a little bit more in terms of their salaries, and all put together is about an extra Kshs1.2 billion, yet we are prepared to live with an electoral Commission which spent Kshs11 billion which they did not need to spend. That requires an explanation. It is even more than the money that is required to give every Standard One child a laptop next year. We can even make sure that every child of school- going age gets a laptop and yet, that money was spent by the IEBC and they are saying that they did not need to spend that money, because the system of voting was manual. In my view, this audit that is being carried out by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) must be done properly. It must be intense so that it can be explained to the taxpayer why Kshs11 billion was not only spent, but contracts awarded irregularly. Now we are talking about devolved systems and governors are crying for money to spend in the counties, and we are being told that they cannot be given anything more than Kshs8 billion, which is still less than what was given to the IEBC. In my view, this IEBC performed worse than the Kivuitu Commission. I have participated in many elections. There was a time when there was only one supervisor of elections, who would run elections countrywide with less expense to the taxpayer. So, I believe that at the end of the day, we should be able to look at this and ensure that it is done. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there was a time when a judge of the High Court found some White settler at the Coast who had killed a lady in Mombasa. The settler was charged with manslaughter and convicted, but given a non-custodial sentence. The Attorney- General at that time, Karugu, went to Parliament and said that he did not agree with the verdict of that particular judge. In fact, it was Judge Harris. I think it is important to know that I may not have the power or basis of altering anything that a court has decided, but I have a right to disagree with that judgement. It is not about the judgement – what was decided – but the process. At one time when I represented the former President, Mwai Kibaki--- I think the case started with my friend, Sen. Kiraitu, but when we went to the Court of Appeal, he was no longer there. But the case was thrown out on the basis of a technicality. The former President was not allowed to offer evidence. This time, before the Presidential Petition that was heard recently started, I opened my mouth too early and said that these were different times and not like the old days when Mwai Kibaki filed a case and it was knocked out on a technicality. We changed the Constitution to make sure that anybody who goes to court will get substantial justice, and yet, this Supreme Court, quite apart from the fact that both the Elections law and the Constitution say that it should not have due regard to technicality, it decided a case on the basis, largely, in which evidence in relation to our petition had been thrown out. In my view, if you look at the rules, the decision with respect of the Supreme Court was misguided because the 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."
}