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{
    "id": 687582,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/687582/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 347,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the time, the emotions of the country were high. People had taken positions that were very difficult to resolve. We were talking not to each other but at each other. In order to resolve this problem, something significant happened on Madaraka Day. Prior to that, the leadership of both sides of the coalitions met. In order to bring political temperatures down, it was possible to hold a Madaraka Day in Nakuru and at the same time for a CORD public rally to be held in Uhuru Park on 1st June, this year. Therefore, for this reason and with privilege and honour, I have to register the appreciation of the Committee for the work done, the thinking that went into this matter from the President of the Republic of Kenya, Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta and also the leadership of CORD, Rt. Hon. Raila Amollo Odinga, H.E. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka and the Minority Leader in the Senate, Sen. Moses Wetangula. People will remember that such meetings were held between those four principals including the Deputy President. I want the country to know that it would have been impossible without the top leadership of this country for this joint committee to be formed. This is the first time in our history because; even though we had a Senate before, we have not had an occasion where there has been a Joint Parliamentary Select Committee consisting of the National Assembly and the Senate. Another thing that happened was that contrary to the general rules of both Houses, the numbers that were in this Joint Committee were not determined on the basis of the numerical strength of the coalitions in the National Assembly and Senate. The Committee had equal numbers of Members from both the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) and the Jubilee Coalition. For this again, one must register appreciation for the leadership of both coalitions who wanted this matter to be dealt with in a bipartisan manner and in a way that would enable us to proceed to discuss the issues surrounding the IEBC in a bipartisan manner. We were able through those many sittings to resolve the issues on the four thematic areas that were spelt out in the Motion that was passed by Parliament. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, after the Motion was passed by both Houses, we held several hearings in which various stakeholder organizations and individual stakeholders appeared before the Committee and made their submissions in form of memoranda and oral submissions and quite a number of them were able to do both. The number of stakeholders and Government agencies that appeared before us were numerous and I cannot enumerate. If you look at the Report of the Committee and the HANSARD reports which are available, you will see that we were able to hear views of a cross section of Kenyans who appeared before the Committee. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the various thematic areas that were contained in the Motion, the first one was to deal with hearing allegations that parties presented before us against the commissioners of the IEBC and the Secretariat. It was required under thematic area No.2 of the Motion that we then proceed to make recommendations on a legal mechanism of vacation from office of the members of the Commission including the Secretariat. 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."
}