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{
    "id": 690405,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/690405/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 540,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "issue is with the party secretariat and officials. Kenyans need to be assured that when it comes to party nominations, the issue of party democracy is taken care of. The other issue is Clause 15. To me this is very important. Clause 15 encourages collaboration between the Government and non-State actors in terms of civic education. Most of the challenges we have in this country in terms of elections is because of lack of civic education for our voters. It is important that non-State actors and the Government can collaborate and make sure that all Kenyans are involved in civic education in terms of what it entails for elections to be held in the best-envisioned manner. The other issue I want to comment on is on the disabled. Clause 22 of this Bill proposes that there is need to facilitate the disabled in this country to participate in elections. It is very important that these people are facilitated in terms of ensuring that the required infrastructure in all the polling stations is provided so that when they go to vote, they are able to do it without any challenges. There is another issue which has not been taken care of. If you are disabled and you cannot move from your home to the polling station; and you expect to be moved, that constitutes an election offence. It is proposed that if you move an individual to vote, that is an election offence. I do not know how that matter will be handled. It is important that at times these people are also facilitated in moving from their homes to the polling station to cast their votes. This is an area which we need to seriously consider taking care of as we move forward. Clause 28 is the issue of disbursement of the Political Parties Fund. The clause states that in parties where more ladies are elected, they should benefit more from this Fund. This is progressive. It is important that parties encourage our dear sisters, mums and daughters to participate in elections. At times, some of them are even better than us men, only that at times we threaten them with violence. At the end of the day, they are not able to compete effectively. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we could even increase it from 15 per cent to 20 per cent so that more money is allocated to political parties that promote the participation of the other gender in elections like my party the Wiper Democratic Movement – Kenya (WDM-K). You can see we have very many WDM-K ladies here. As I conclude, I would like to speak about petitions. I would like to support the timeframe on petitions that has been proposed in this Bill when people lose elections. At times, Members of Parliament have petitions in court which take too long to be concluded. The affected Members are unable to settle down to do their work because they are always running up and down between Parliament and the courts. The timeframe proposed in this Bill will actually deal with this problem because Members of Parliament will now know whether they have been elected or they have lost the elections. In that case, they will settle down quickly to do their work as required by the law. With those remarks, I support this Bill."
}