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{
    "id": 576362,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/576362/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 237,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. ole Ntutu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2535,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Keturet Ole Ntutu",
        "slug": "patrick-keturet-ole-ntutu"
    },
    "content": "it wise to bring this amendment early enough, so that it can give the country time to discuss and digest the consequences of this amendment. I totally support this Bill. The proposal is to move the date of the general election from the second Tuesday of August to the third Monday of December in the election year. I am one of those who said no to this Constitution. The reason was that there was a number of issues that we thought it was wise to amend or discuss before we passed the new Constitution. Most of us who were in the United Republican Party (URP) actually opposed the entire document. The reason was what we are going through this time. Look at the number of articles that we are going to change. We have Article 101 on the election of Members of Parliament (MPs), Article 102 on terms of MPs, Article 136 (1) on the election of the President, Article 177 (1) on the election of Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) and Article 180 (1) on the election of the county governors. Look at all that. That is why we were saying that this Constitution needed to be amended before it was passed. Because the country at that time was in the mood of changing the Constitution, let us now do what is needful. I hope the entire country now sees the reason why we wanted all these things to be looked into. The Budget cycle in our country is interfered with because as MPs, we have initiated so many projects in our constituencies. This timeframe will affect at least two years. In two years probably most of us will have started secondary schools which will have students in forms one, two and three. However, because we will not have funds, it will affect the development that we have started. The Budget process in this country is an elaborate one, which spans over six months. Once you interfere with it, you interfere with two years ahead. The other issue is the national examination calendar, the Kenya Certificate for Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations. We all know that our children, particularly those in Form Four, normally start their exams around 21st or 22nd October. When a presidential candidate will not have got 50 plus one of the votes, then it will mean that in the next three months we will have a run-off. Where are we going to be as a country? We all know that once this country is in an election mood, everything is interfered with. The other issue I want to discuss is that of the peak tourism time. I represent a constituency where everything depends on tourism like the Maasai Mara National Reserve, which is the eighth wonder of the world. July, August, September and October is when we expect tourists. So, the moment you say that elections will be held in August, it will mean that we will lose a lot of money because most of the time the tourists will not be able to go to Maasai Mara National Reserve. The other issue is the pastoralists. In this country, we have about 85 constituencies which have pastoralist communities. The moment you say that the elections will be done in August, most of this time our pastoralist communities are actually going out of their constituencies because of the dry spell. That will bring a big problem in terms of voting which, will mean that unless you want to give us a different timeframe, our people will not vote at that particular time. Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}