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{
    "id": 687654,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/687654/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 419,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Finally, I want to comment on nomination. I have seen so many misconceptions out there and propaganda. We are all in politics and may have problems with our political parties. However, what would one be doing, as an elected leader 21 days to the close of nominations, in a party whose nomination process they do not have faith in? Why would one want to drag their political party through a nomination process when they have no intention of agreeing with the results of that nomination process? Why would one want to punish the candidate who has defeated them in the nomination process by running again against the same person in another political party? A clever and wise politician should decipher early enough, like the way Sen. Hassan Omar did, that they may not succeed in a particular political party and go to another party way before the nominations. Party- hopping has not been outlawed; that is the wrong position out there. It has only been outlawed during the 21 days of nominations. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are preventing any political candidate who does not believe in his or her political party from jumping from that party to another. What we are saying is that 21 days before closure of nomination by the IEBC, one should have made up his or her mind as to whether he or she believes in Wiper Party or ODM. If we do not do that, it will be an exercise in futility to continue putting resources into political parties alleging that we are building them when actually we are not protecting them as entities of democracy. In one of the media houses, today, I stated that this country would have been beautiful if the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD) had remained as a fourth party and Kenya African National Unity (KANU) remained as it were. The FORD then had Sen. Murungi, Sen. Orengo and hon. Paul Muite. It had representation across the country the same way KANU had representation across the country. How beautiful would have been our democracy been if the mobilization and the competition was around issues, without disintegration into Forum for Restoration of Democracy-Kenya (FORD- K) which moved to the one corner of the country until it is now confined there. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, FORD- People and FORD-Asili also moved to their own corners until they are no more. If we have to build political parties for the future, we have to create systems that will make the parties viable for democratic competition. The candidates will have the choice to vie as independent candidates without hopping to any political party. That is why we provided for in the Report that if a person who wishes to vie as an independent candidate---What is independence? Independence is from the political parties. How can we say one is independent three months prior to the election yet the candidate had not made up his or her mind on the independence? In conclusion, I appreciate the work of Sen. Orengo and Sen. Murungi. I also appreciate the leadership that they provided. Those who are speaking out there, that there were concessions by one political side and not the other, they must be told that concessions were made by both sides of the political divide. There were consultations to all political parties. I remember Sen. Murungi would always call the President and the Deputy President. Sen. Orengo was always on phone with Kalonzo Musyoka, Sen. Wetangula and the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga. 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."
}