Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 470677,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/470677/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 189,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "we should allow the same thing that he has desired to continue. If we were to move in that direction and to agree that there is need to:- (a) allow for development of political parties but; (b) be careful about what level we allow. What is the yardstick we are going to use? How much are we going to allow and what is a political party per se ? Once we have agreed with Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale about what number that would be, I would propose further amendments following that and that would be that once a party does not acquire any political funding, and if a member is a Member in this House or in any assembly in Kenya, and that party does not attract any funding of any kind, then that individual should be allowed to move to whatever other party they deem fit or to be an independent person. The reason being that if you are in a political party that has got no funding from anywhere, what programmes can you be able to proceed with in Parliament and elsewhere? I think Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale is correct in wanting to beef up political parties and wanting to support even small political parties, but I think the definition that we will have to agree with is what the definition of “small” is and at what point do we encourage briefcase or fly-by-night parties? Where is the demarcation line between encouraging fly- by-night parties and having real political parties that can be able to push programmes and, therefore, deserve to be funded by the Kenyan taxpayer? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I further think that if indeed a party does not have the requisite number; if it does not even have two or three Members such as the ones we have in this House, for example, I am the only Member of my party in the Senate. I am the only Senator in the party called NARC, in which I am alone and there is no funding. If it was not for the mercy of the Jubilee Coalition, I would probably not be chairing any committee. You wonder at what point, how able you are to push your programmes as a party. Let us not forget that the whole purpose of a political party is to be able to push party programmes. So, if you are not able to push party programmes and you are also not able to oppose from the Opposition side as an able Opposition, then there is a very big question mark about your role in Parliament or your role in any county assembly. Therefore, even though I support Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale’s amendment, I would propose that serious consultations be done on this Bill. I have also proposed the same to the Mover of the Bill; that we should have very serious consultations and ask ourselves some very serious questions; what exactly do we want to achieve? What are we going to achieve with the Bill? Is it for the benefit of political parties’ development in Kenya or not? I believe we will need negotiations and compromise on this Bill in order for us to make the political class in our country and political parties be the kind of parties that we are talking about. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is great to have many small political parties, but if you look at any country that has got serious democracy, you will find that they either have one, two or three very strong parties, so that each party can be able to check the other with numbers and with money. If you look at our political parties’ landscape, you 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."
}