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{
    "id": 727749,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/727749/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "I decided that I will help those who think and feel that it is time to bite the bullet and provide a formula to anchor these counties in law. There are caveats under Clause 44. A Petition to alter the boundary of any county shall not be admissible within 12 months of a general election. Clause 45 states that if Parliament agrees to the proposal and the commission’s recommendation to alter any boundary less than 12 months before a general election, that boundary change would be effected after the general elections. That is because we are avoiding gerrymandering. We know what tyranny of numbers can do. Therefore, we do not want gerrymandering. As I said earlier, this is a fairly sensitive issue. Where there is more than one petition, for example, the ones that we received from Kirinyaga County, we have the liberty to amalgamate them; what we call in law consolidation. If there are two matters of the same issue, you consolidate. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, lastly, it is the intention of this Bill to repeal the Districts and Provinces Act, 1992 to have the County Boundaries Act to take care of and define the boundaries of the counties. I am aware that boundaries of counties, particularly the ones that border our neighbours affect international boundaries. I am aware of fears that we might interfere with international boundaries. However, I have said this before, who will bell the cat? At some point, somebody will have to do something about this. The starting point is not to deal with the international boundaries; it is to start inwards, going outwards. We should deal with our counties boundaries, then the international boundaries will be taken care of by another legislation which is in the Constitution. It is contemplated under Article 5 of the Constitution that there shall be international boundaries and territorial waters. That Act of Parliament will take care of county boundaries. The starting point, and I humbly submit, we can only start with the 47 counties. With those many remarks, I beg to move and request my brother, Sen. Moses Otieno Kajwang, to second the Bill."
}