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{
    "id": 600711,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/600711/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 284,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "sought to be elected as a Member of Parliament for Marakwet East. This moved us from a situation of violence with the Pokot to a situation where now, as Sen. Lesuuda said, we have peace. It moved us from a situation where we had no single kilometre of tarmack to a situation where Marakwet is now the leading constituency in the county with a tarmac road. It moved us from a situation where many girls were not getting an opportunity to go to school because of the barbaric FGM culture to a situation where we have many women going to Ivy League universities, thanks to her network at that time in the United States of America (USA), to study and to get an opportunity to change our country. Madam Temporary Speaker, I remember as a young boy, not so young; I was in the university working with hon. Linah Kilimo, I acted the skits in the village to demonstrate that a man who has gone to the university is willing to marry a woman who has not gone through FGM. She wanted to get a dramatic way of explaining to the people that it is possible for one to be married if she does not go through FGM. It is about culture, which is sometimes very difficult to change. I really want to say that her contributions for 10 years made a big difference in our county. I think she was even under-utilized by this country because of the immense knowledge she has. I know most of these women here are going through very difficult times where people say – this is the problem when it comes to the women leadership now – when a woman wants to stand for a parliamentary seat, they are told that there is a reserved seat called “Woman Representative”. When they want to go for governor, they are told there is a reserved seat called “Woman Representative”. Madam Temporary Speaker, that needs to change. The only way to change is for us, men, who are already elected in positions of Senators or governors, to organize ourselves in a more civilized manner to accept competition. I would be more than happy if the next Senator becomes a woman who has competed against me fairly. We must culture our competition. Women are facing the most hostile environment when it comes to competition because it is the only time when a woman comes to the campaign scene. It is time that men publicly refer to their genitalia. It is the time that they are abused publicly with the rest of the society clapping including women. We need to take knowledge back to those people and tell them that we need a civilized campaign. Indeed, we need to bring an amendment - I think there is no better person than you – to the Elections Act, to make it an offence to abuse a competitor based on their gender so that we make it very difficult. We should carry out our campaigns with a lot of decorum. The idea that each one of us wants to remain in office at whatever cost must come to an end in this country. We need to give an opportunity to more women. I am one of the Senators who are willing to say that we should do everything possible to ensure that at least 10 Senators be elected in the next regime and give an opportunity to women even if it means Sen. Murkomen’s seat. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is no seat reserved for any of us. We must allow the environment to be free and competitive. Not all of us are going to come back here. All these men who are elected here, unfortunately, as a matter of statistics shows – and Mathematics cannot lie – not all of us will come back. Some people will lose and I wish those who will lose can lose to women so that more women can have an opportunity to come and serve in this House. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}