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"content": "can affect the stability of our country. I want to appeal, like my colleagues have done, that as much these laws we are proposing are good, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Are we going to make these laws implemented after we pass them? That is the big question. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, let me make a few comments. First is on the issue of the IEBC conducting nominations and I think we are all for this. However, which IEBC? The current commissioners of the IEBC are being removed from office because of malpractices which they have committed in the past elections. I doubt whether the new IEBC that is yet to be constituted will run national elections and at the same time run nomination for political parties, but that is neither here nor there. After a request has been made and the IEBC has submitted the cost of that exercise, I would have liked to see a provision where parties can access public funds to pay the IEBC to conduct nominations. I know the IEBC will be submitting big estimates for political parties, which political parties will not afford. Therefore, it is fair that we say “may request.” I believe that all those parties that have huge resources will request this service and access it. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have discussed about election laws many times. I recall we used to have results being transmitted by road to the presiding officer. Between the polling station and the tallying area, that is where a lot of malpractices were committed. We went ahead and recommended that results should be announced at the polling station but this has not worked. Therefore, I welcome the inclusion of Clause 14 that requires transmission of results electronically for all candidates to the tallying centre because in the past, we have tended to treat the elections results of the presidential election as sacred, to the extent that they can only be handled at the tallying centre at the Bomas of Kenya or whatever it is. Therefore, I applaud the decision that all results will be transmitted from the polling station to the tallying centre for all candidates so that electoral officers at the tallying centre will not have an opportunity to interfere with the results when they finally arrive. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I also want to talk briefly about party lists. You are aware that in the past we have nominated people way before the elections and during the campaigns as the Minority Leader says, they change loyalties and start dancing with the enemies because the list is already with the Commission and you cannot change it. Therefore, you end up with characters nominated by you but who do not have loyalty to your party. We have attempted to cure this. One of the biggest problems we have as political parties today is with the people nominated to various positions, be they Senators, Members of the National Assembly or Members of County Assemblies (MCAs), because they cease to be loyal to those political parties and then they align themselves to other political parties. Therefore, I welcome the fact that this time round, political parties will be nominating people to various positions after their nominations so that we know who is loyal and who is not. The issue of registration of voters is where unfairness and rigging starts. During the last elections, the IEBC ensured that certain areas got more kits for registration than others. I remember we talked to the then Minister for Constitutional Affairs, Hon. Eugene Wamalwa, to ensure that these kits are distributed fairly to all the constituencies but it did not work. So, some areas had more voters than others and because of shortage of kits, some voters could not be registered. Also, distances from one point to another were prohibitive. Therefore, I would like to urge that now, after this amendment, we want to ensure that the IEBC distributes these kits equally and also to ensure that where distances are big, there are more kits; they should not just consider the population. 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."
}