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{
"id": 50685,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/50685/?format=api",
"text_counter": 389,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Musila",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for Defence",
"speaker": {
"id": 94,
"legal_name": "David Musila",
"slug": "david-musila"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you heard me, I corrected myself immediately. I said that it is because of lack of integrity in many nations that has caused instability and bloodshed. This is more so in African countries and we have many examples, starting with our own country where because of lack of integrity in elections, there has been a lot of bloodshed and political instability. Similarly, Zimbabwe is another example in Africa. Recently, Ivory Coast has been undergoing similar instability and bloodshed due to lack of integrity in elections. This also includes Nigeria as someone has already said. We can continue giving examples. We are underlining the importance of integrity in elections. While we are creating an independent electoral body, it must be independent in practice but not just by the word âindependentâ. We have created many commissions or bodies in this country in the past and called them âindependentâ, but they have not been so. What I am saying is that this time round, we cannot afford to go wrong. We must create an independent commission that is going to remove this country from the culture of election rigging which has characterized this country since Independence. I can say that without fear of contradiction. It has gone on for too long; nearly 50 years now since Independence and we are still talking of election rigging. Anyone who losses - even if he is not rigged out - cries foul and says that he has been rigged out. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, so, how do we get out of this through this Bill? The only way is to ensure that this body that we are creating is going to be independent. In doing so, the proposed legislation that is going to manage elections and is going to come before this House--- I have been told by the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, that a Bill will be brought to us providing penalties for those who do not live to that independence. So, I am suggesting to the Minister that in this Bill, he must ensure that very severe penalties are prescribed for all those commissioners and members of staff who are supposed to be independent and do not live to the expectations of the nation. It does not only apply to the commissioners but even those people in authority or interested persons who make an attempt and not just to succeed in doing so, but just making an attempt to influence an independent commissioner or member of staff; very severe punishment must be prescribed. The schedule that the Minister has provided as Schedule Four has given a code of conduct for commissioners. I believe that other codes of conduct that will be developed, that are going to be followed by all people interested or getting involved in elections, whether they are candidates, agents or anybody playing whatever role, there must be severe penalties prescribed. I am emphasizing this because there have been laws managing elections in this country. Mr. Mututho has just given us experiences that he has gone through where the loser is declared the winner. It should never occur again in this country. It should never occur again in this country, and I think, as legislators, we owe it to this nation. If we can put to a stop the issue of election rigging and ensure that those who participate in elections are beyond reproach; that, those who are Commissioners are not just Commissioners by word, and that they are independent Commissioners by deed--- Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Bill gives certain responsibilities to the independent Commission. One of them is to perform continuous registration of voters. This is one area that we have been lacking in. Large numbers of voters have been locked out of elections simply because they did not have election cards. They were locked out of the votersâ roll because they did not have ID cards. Therefore, as we prepare to give this Commission the responsibility of continuous registration of voters, it would be useless if we do not improve on the issuance of ID cards, so that as Kenyans attain 18 years of age, they are able to walk into a registration centre and be registered as voters. If the department that is responsible for registering persons is unable to do so, then we must devise other documents that can be used to make a person a qualified voter. I know right now, we use ID cards and passports but these are not adequate. How many people in the rural areas have passports? A large number of youths as I speak have no ID cards. So, even if you create a Commission and give them responsibility to continuously register voters, they will be sitting there idle and the youth will be suffering because they cannot register. So, could a birth certificate be, perhaps, considered as an additional document that can enable a potential voter to be registered as a voter? I am saying it would be useless to do continuous registration unless you make sure that those who qualify to vote have the necessary documents to register as voters. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other area is the regular review of the votersâ roll. One of the sources of rigging has been using the old votersâ roll containing names of dead people. Dead people have been used by some unscrupulous commissioners, or even agents, to ensure that a candidate wins. Therefore, the votersâ roll must be cleaned all the time. It must be free of people who do not exist, so that it can then be credible enough to be trusted by all candidates. Investigations and promotion is another role. In the past, electoral commissions have simply warned people that if you do this, something will happen; if you do this, we will report you to the police. When reports are made to the police, nothing happens. As Mr. Mututho said, those who do these things are in power. This independent Commission must be able to detect offences that are committed under the Act, and be able to prosecute those people without reference to any other body. That is the only way in which the Commission will have teeth to bite. Past Commissions have been toothless bull-dogs. They have been unable to prosecute; they have been unable to do anything. Election crimes have been committed but the Commissions have been unable to do anything. I support this very strongly. As I conclude, I want to talk about the other role; delimitation of constituencies and wards. I listened to this debate and a number of Members of Parliament here suggested that the former interim commission headed by Mr. Ligale did a job; so, why do we not finish with this and say it was a job well done? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, first, I do not believe that, that Commission acted independently. It is one of the Commissions that I would say, it was independent by word but it was not independent by practice. Therefore, simply because I got an additional constituency, I cannot stand up and say it is a good job. Serious concerns have been raised by wananchi and even hon. Members---"
}