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    "id": 470833,
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    "content": "a particular region, then you are entitled to these funds. You may have a small political party which has votes from all over the country reflecting a national character, but it is disqualified on account of not meeting the threshold. In other words, a political party which is registered, but has members from one section of the country is then entitled to get money from the fund. So, the Political Parties Act, to that extent, is not consistent with what it is saying. There is conflict within the Act itself and there is conflict within the Constitution. Therefore, I want to agree with Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale that the Constitution and the law must say what it says. Therefore, what is implemented under that legislation must also be in accordance with the primary consideration of this legislation. I am saying this in light of the fact that you may find a party that is interested in a single issue like, for example, the environment. It may not attract the following that the major political parties have because it may say that according to its blueprint, all that it is concerned about is the environment. This is not really an issue that you hear a lot of political parties talking about. Therefore, to the extent, it has this wonderful idea and it should get support from all over the country. But you may have a political party that is getting all the votes from all over the country merely because of its ethnic base and its financial might. But in terms of the ideas, it is a very empty party or coalition. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, to that extent and to the extent that the Constitution actually recognizes marginalized groups, for example, I know that the Ilchamus in Baringo have been fighting for a long time since Independence just to gain one seat in Parliament. They have never had a Member of Parliament (MP) from that community. They may register a party only to pursue that objective; that their community, under the Constitution, is not being properly recognized. They can go to the big political parties and major coalitions, but they cannot achieve that objective. For a group like the Illchamus to address its grievances, they have had to go the African Court of Justice in order to deal with the issue to do with their land, which could not be addressed locally in Kenya. This is because the way we run our affairs, we do not have a lot of space for some communities. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, what am I trying to say? That if you have a political party that has got broad membership and it has got a wonderful idea, but because people are pushing in a different direction, it may not be good for the country yet you have a political party with a good idea and they cannot achieve the kind of numbers that you want to achieve in order to enjoy this privilege from the fund allocated to political parties. Examples of this can be seen in Britain, where there are parties represented in the House of Commons from Ireland and they have about 20 or so members. This is a small community. But they want to address that unique problem within that section of the United Kingdom. I urge Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale that, probably, we need an amendment to the extent that we divide the Political Parties Fund into two; one where you can use the kind of formula found in the Political Parties Act as it exists now. Then a certain faction can be 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."
}