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{
    "id": 470835,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/470835/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 347,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "shared for the sustenance of the small parties because sometimes you may find that the bigger parties may be pushing the country to the wrong direction. For example, Hitler’s Nationalist Party was a huge party; it was a movement. You will find that in Germany, at that time, there were smaller parties which believed in something and yet they were smoked out. Therefore, they were not able to survive in that kind of environment. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have seen situations where you can find yourself in a Parliament like I was in; where Members made a decision that Kenya shall have one party. You would only find one lone voice saying that: “On a matter of principle, I cannot go that direction.” The problem with a majority of people is that they at times lose sense of direction. They sit in a caucus. When they come back, they become voting machines. They do not think of bigger ideas. When you look at the annals of our history, especially on the law of detention, you will see that the bigger section talks about detention being a good thing. It says that development of our country and those who want to sabotage and compromise our security should be detained. There were two or three lone voices in the House which did not represent the mainstream political parties at that time. Low and behold, the big guys in those political parties were the first to be taken into detention. I want to plead that we have some small space for small parties. They may be small in numbers, but very big in terms of ideas. I have seen that situation and witnessed it many times. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, take, for instance, the African National Congress (ANC) Party in South Africa. The leadership of that party, for a number of years has come from the Xhosas; Mandela, Sisulu, Mbeki and many more up to the time of Luthuli. We now have a Zulu for a President. Since this party believed in some idea and direction, it was possible to have leadership from a small community. With regard to Tanzania African National Union (TANU), now CCM, the leadership came from a very small community, Zanakis, in Tanzania, where Nyerere came from."
}