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"id": 47728,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/47728/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ojaamong",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Labour",
"speaker": {
"id": 196,
"legal_name": "Sospeter Odeke Ojaamongson",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will find that the issues of elections and boundaries are very emotive. As much as the situation is calm now, towards the end, maybe after this commission completes its work, tempers in Kenya might rise again. This time round, unless we have a very credible commission, I fear this might be the cause of fighting in Kenya again. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when the Ligale Commission presented its report, there were accusations and counter-accusations, especially from areas where constituencies and wards were moved to other constituencies or districts. One of the causes of animosity in Kenya for a long time now is because of the boundary disputes which have remained unsolved for a very long time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when the IEBC goes round again, it should look at the factors that led to most communities to complain about the boundaries. Where I come from, most of the anomalies that arose regarding the boundaries was because of the high-handedness by the previous Government whereby they breached most of the laws and went ahead to gazette new boundaries without any reference to the people who were affected. This has caused animosity and it has lingered for quite a long time. We expected these boundary issues to be settled with the Ligale Commission, but those who went to court knew what they were doing. We hope that this time round, the court process will not interfere with these boundaries when they are gazetted. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at the Fifth Schedule, Section 2 (a) and (b), where we talk about reference materials, I will draw your attention to the Districts and Provinces Act, 1992. It has quite substantial information that can be used by the commission, at least, when they consider boundaries of various areas. So, I would prefer that other than confining themselves to the Ligale Report and maybe the report by the Parliamentary Committee, the Minister should also include in one of the amendments, the Districts and Provinces Act, 1992 as reference material. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have a very short time before we go for elections. I am looking forward to the logical conclusion of the delimitation of boundaries. I expect to get an extra constituency in my place. I am really over-burdened with a population of over 255,000 people. My colleagues in Parliament here are representing 18,000 people in their constituencies, yet we earn the same salary and allowances. You will find that, indeed, I am overstretched. The only success I would have in this Parliament is to ensure that the people of Amagoro get another constituency. We have discussed and agreed on the boundaries. We have no disputes. The gerrymandering that was witnessed previously saw that some areas have very high population while others have very few people to represent. The representation was somehow skewed in favour of those people who were pro- establishment. Once this historical injustice is corrected, we hope that the rest of the Kenyans will also be able to benefit from the national resources. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to comment on the issue of this commission having part-time Commissioners. With a population of over 40 million people, there is no justification as to why we cannot just employ nine Commissioners even at a lower salary, if need be. We want to put two Commissioners on permanent basis and the rest to be part-time. You will find a Commissioner doing his matatu business in Mombasa and when he is called for an election, he jumps into his matatu and comes to Nairobi. I think we are being unfair because parties will be conducting elections regularly. If you look at the functions of this commission, it will be assisting parties in conducting their elections. Organizations under trade unions will also be conducting elections regularly. So, it is only this commission that will be coming to assist. Also, we shall be having elections in neighbouring countries and elsewhere. These people should be able to go and observe and learn the best practices so that they can also bring this knowledge here. So, when we put our Commissioners on part-time basis, I do not see exactly any justification for that. Mr. Minister, I know you are pro-change; if you want to see that Kenya has the best electoral and boundaries commission, ensure these Commissioners are well remunerated. Create for them a very good election centre. Let them not be in Anniversary Towers where people cannot access them. Give them good offices where we can go and access data and talk to them. We want the public to benefit. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I highly recommend that the nine Commissioners should be appointed at ago. Thereafter, because our population keeps on increasing and election matters keep on becoming complicated, we can add two or three more in future depending on the needs. The issue of starting with two or four Commissioners cannot be justified. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what I like about this Bill is that it tends to regulate. If you look the functions of the Commission as captured in Clause 4(i). It says:- âthe regulation of the amount of money that may be spent by or on behalf of a candidate or party in respect of any election.â Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have had very good leaders who have been left out just because they cannot afford to fund their campaign programmes. The introduction of this thing which was the regulation of the amount of money will, at least, put all people at par. You will find that the shortage of fuel being experienced now in this country is just because, as we argued in Parliament last time, some people are scheming to make billions, so that they can go out there and bribe voters and also hire helicopters. Some of them want to buy helicopters, so that they can move round the country. If well applied this, it will bring sanity to our electoral system in Kenya. Some people have taken it upon themselves just to âbuyâ Kenyans and blindfold them, so that Kenyans do not even follow manifestos of political parties. They would like to see them follow where money is and that person who is giving the highest amount of money. Right now, even Kenyansâ minds will be opened to manifestos. A good party is one that has good programmes on agriculture, roads, education and many others. In conclusion, I wish the Minister well when driving the implementation of this Bill. I wish also that the President, once the Bill is complete in Parliament, signs it into law immediately. I also want to wish the Commissioners who will be appointed good luck, so that they can achieve what Kenyans yearn for. This is the only Bill that will test whether the implementation of the new Constitution will work or not. I want to thank all those hon. Members who have contributed on this Bill and beg to support it."
}