Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 48638,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/48638/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 490,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Otichilo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 131,
        "legal_name": "Wilber Ottichilo Khasilwa",
        "slug": "wilber-ottichilo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. The other provision within this Bill that is very good is the provision of code of conduct for all employees of the Commission. That provision is very important because most of the employees of the previous Commissions have been involved in situations where elections have not been conducted in a fair and transparent manner. However, with these provisions, I am very confident that in the next elections, the members of the Commission will observe these provisions. I believe there will be very stiff penalties for those who break the law. So, they will be deterred from committing any offence which would lead to not a fair and transparent election. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as various hon. Members have indicated, the members of the Commission will go through a very serious selection and appointment process. So, after you take these important Kenyans through the rigorous process of selection and appointment, it does not make sense to appoint them as part-time members of the Commission. These are people we are entrusting to carryout fair and transparent elections in this country. So, I believe that these people should work on fulltime basis, so that they can discharge their mandate. So, I support those who have raised this matter and I hope that this issue should be looked into during the amendments. Finally, on the issue of delimitation of constituencies and wards boundaries, I think what we need to do is clearly spelt out in this Bill. We will need to look at the Ligale Report, the Report by the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs and at the Constitution so that the Commission can come up with a clear and fair way of deciding which constituencies should be constituted and which boundaries should be put in place. So we should not again ask to go back to reinvent the wheel. If we do so, as one of the hon. Members has said here, we will not be able to move forward. So, I pray and plead with hon. Members that when it comes to the final passing of this Bill, we have to look into that so that we do not open a pandora’s box again and start afresh. With those few remarks, I want to support this Bill."
}