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{
    "id": 48609,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/48609/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 461,
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    "content": "Wajir and Juja, among other place. By and large, the results have been accepted. This is because people felt that the results represented the verdict of the people. We congratulate the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) for doing a good job. They did a professional job. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, part of the reason why we have failed before is because the commissioners were involved in the day-to-day management of the affairs of the Commission. I am glad that will be the major difference. It is being proposed here that the commissioners detach themselves from the day-to-day management of the affairs of the Commission. In the past, commissioners divided the country and took charge of specific zones in which they were interested. They proceeded to manipulate the election procedures and processes. They took over the work of the returning officers. In fact, they went ahead to employ election officials from among friends and relatives of the candidates they favoured. In that kind of scenario, you cannot expect them to be impartial. This is the reason we failed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe strongly in what is being proposed; that, the work of the Commissioners should be to formulate policy and provide oversight on the implementation of the policies they have formulated. I feel that they should be non-executive. The Chief Executive Officer and his staff should have the responsibility of executing the policy and managing the affairs of the Commission on a day-to-day basis. The secretariat should comprise of experts and professionals. These people must be made accountable to the Commission. Therefore, ultimately, the Commission is responsible for the conduct of the affairs of the Commission. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for us to achieve that status of conducting fair and impartial elections, it does not matter what laws we pass in this Parliament; they may be very good, but those of us, the politicians in particular, who participate in these elections, must be prepared to play by the laws and regulations which we put in place. We must be prepared to change our attitudes and past practices. Let us accept the results which have been declared, particularly after we have participated and completed the elections under laws which we have passed and generally accepted. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is a general belief that we lose elections because we have been rigged out. Everybody believes in that. Even those who had very little support in these elections still believe that they have lost because they have been rigged out. We must accept that there are situations when we have fallen out with our constituents and, therefore, we must be prepared to accept that our voters get to positions where they can reject us. Once they reject us, we must be able to accept those results. Therefore, if we are going to succeed, let us change our attitudes. Let us accept to go by the laws and regulations we have put in place. Let us discard the culture of impunity which has driven us into very ugly situations. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I support."
}