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{
    "id": 52347,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/52347/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 296,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kajwang",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 164,
        "legal_name": "Gerald Otieno Kajwang",
        "slug": "otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "This means that every participant in any game and the electoral game is now the biggest game in this country, must feel satisfied that the umpire is neutral. This idea that somebody can control the Electoral Commission, and I see it in the papers every day that people are fighting so that they can control the Electoral Commission, is dangerous talk. Any time I think that the team of hon. Kioni is controlling the game, I will destroy the game. It is real, true and a fact. Immediately hon. Kioni sees that the team of hon. Kajwang’ is controlling the game, he will riot. I know that. So, let us go into this thing, first of all, accepting the rules of the game will be followed and when somebody breaks the rules, the umpire’s word will be final, but fair. That is the only way we can have good elections. You do not just make a law. A law is made to deal with some mischief and we are making this law because there is serious mischief that happened in 2007. We almost destroyed ourselves because of the same things that I have talked about, namely; the rules of the game, the umpire whom some people thought, and rightfully, that he may not have been fair. Why? The rules of the game were that the captain of one of the teams is the one who would appoint the Electoral Commission. The captain of one of the teams, single handedly, nominated 27 Commissioners. We complained earlier during the other Government and at least, hon. Dalmas Otieno managed to negotiate some settlement where some people brought half, some parties brought something and people said: “Okay, now our people are in, now we are okay”. But on this one, we were told by the last speaker in this House that it is the prerogative of the President to appoint the Commissioners at will. Of course, that was the law. That was the law that broke the country. We were told that the agreement that we had the previous time was a gentleman’s agreement, which some gentleman had broken and we had no recourse. The 27 Commissioners turned themselves into an executive Commission; this means that each one of them had powers to manage the election at will, everywhere. If you came from Kisii, you managed the elections in Kisii. If you came from South Nyanza, you managed the elections in South Nyanza. If you came from Kwale, you managed the elections in Kwale. How can you have a Commission where each member of the Commission is executive and is managing elections in their own power and whim? That is the law that we had; a terrible law by this same House. They were made by people who believed that power must originate from somewhere. That is why we are revising this law. That is why we invited some foreigner called Kleigler here. We did not need to. We are now saying that when you appoint the umpire and the referee, let everybody believe the referee will be fair. His appointment itself will be transparent and everybody says that they are going into this game and if they lose, they lose and if they win, they win. That is the only way we can have a civilized country. These other things of trying to get power through hook and crook will destroy this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, look at this; if you go to play the same football that I referred to, the playing ground must be level. There must not be holes, tree stumps and things which can destroy the game. That is exactly what was in that election. We looked at it and saw that the playing ground was uneven and then we were always being reminded: “Well, if you are dissatisfied, go to the court”. But look at the court also. Who was nominating the judges? The same captain of one of the teams was the one appointing the judges. I remember that one of the judges was appointed to the High Court and another judge to the Court of Appeal, I think, a month to the elections. We said: “Really, if this is the court we are going to go to, then we have no justice”. Whether it was going to be just, was not important, but the perception that it was likely not to be just was what brought the war. So, if people lose confidence in the electoral rules, the umpire and the courts, then they go to the streets and look for rungus, pangas and stones and, of course, the Government responds with guns. That is where we were and that is why we are making this law. This is not the electoral law, but the law about the umpire. It is the law about who will run the electoral process. This is not a one day affair because elections are rigged, sometimes two years before it is done. It is a process and we must have confidence in the process. It is important that this country faces the facts as they were. I was amazed at how the election results were coming in and that will come in, in the electoral law, but let me refer to it because other Members have referred to it. The returning officer was the last person in law to announce the results of the wards and the constituencies. That is the law up to now. We have not changed it. Of course, after the returning officer announces the results, nobody has power to change that result. Nobody has power to question that result. That is what the law is. But what happens is that immediately after it is announced, the result becomes public property and it can now be announced on radio and television. The radios and televisions were bringing the results as they were coming in from the polling stations and all of a sudden, somebody said: “Now, the results must come from one source, namely; the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). We said: Why? The law is clear that once the result has been announced in Mbita, that is it. The only result that was announced in Mbita but carried to the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) was the presidential results because the Returning Officer for the Presidential results was the Chairman of the then Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). However, everything went into darkness. We were told that if you announce, you will go to jail and all radio stations went dead, except one radio station called “Kiss 100” which defied the ECK rightfully and lawfully. This is because the result, once announced by the ECK is the result. However, to my surprise, the ECK was now purporting to read the election results at the KICC and what they were reading was quite different from what had been read in the village. We asked: “Who is the Returning Officer?” That was just impunity. I am a bit angry because I know that these are the rules and I have participated in elections ever since I was an adult. I have also gone to electoral courts to represent people who had electoral problems and I know the rules. So, if we make this law and let me repeat this; we need people who can enforce the law. We need men and women who can enforce the law without fear or favour so that this country can go to sleep and say: “So long as So and So is in charge of the results, let us wait and hear the final results.” We do not need to go to war or burn each other. We do not need to fight. Of course, anybody who is aggrieved, feels robbed and has no recourse to any other court will look for a panga. It did not only happen in 2008, but it will happen again unless we find men and women who will enforce this law."
}