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"id": 734853,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. A.B. Duale",
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"legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
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"content": "Hon. Speaker, the Motion itself is self explanatory. Because of the bicameral nature of our Parliament under the new Constitution, the rules of procedure must be amended. As was the case in the 10th Parliament where the National Assembly would elect nine members to EALA, we now have a bicameral nature. This Committee will deal with the rules of procedure and nominations. Will we vote separately or will we have a joint sitting where the election will take place? The EALA is an organ of the East African Community (EAC) which we belong to. Being the legislative arm of the Community, the members are sworn in every five years. The current rules state that 90 days to the expiry of their term, the new members for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania must be in place. This morning, I was watching the Parliament of Uganda electing its members. I saw something on TV. Because of the nature of our two Houses, this Committee has the mandate to look at the procedure and rules of the elections of those members. How will we conduct elections? How will they apply? Ultimately, those nine members will represent the coalitions and parties in the House. The leadership of the parties in consultation with their leadership outside this House will submit the names to the House. Ultimately, the rules may be that we have a joint sitting. If we have a joint sitting, we will have you, Hon. Speaker, as the returning officer and may be the Speaker of the Senate. It was proposed that this Joint Committee will comprise of equal number of Members from each House to be appointed by way of a Motion. When I was given this Motion, I was a bit disturbed. Why equal numbers? We must look at the numerical strength of each House. Why are we having seven Members from both the Senate and the National Assembly? Any agenda that is between the two Houses - the way we do here in terms of the Committees - this is a parliamentary democracy procedure. Why do we have seven Members from the Senate? How do you share a cake equally between a House of 349 Members and a House of 67 or 68 Members? I do not even know the numbers. This is a Motion. It is for the Members. We need to amend the Motion, so that we can have more Members from this House. Ultimately, if the Committee is approved today, it will sit and table a report before the House for adoption, amendment or rejection. The secretariat of this Committee will be provided by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC). The procedure within the EAC in countries where bicameral systems exist, for example, Rwanda, the Parliament of Rwanda has been conducting the election of its members to EALA jointly. They have one sitting, one returning officer and one election. That is why I hope the Committee will propose a joint sitting. When we conduct elections separately in the nature of Kenyans, we do not want ballot papers to be transported from the Senate to the National Assembly then our Speaker has to read the names and results and the same results are read in the Senate because the results can be doctored in between the movement. So, we expect the Committee to do a joint sitting. Hon. Speaker, the option of a joint sitting gives us more prompt tallying and a prompt way of breaking a tie. I remember in the last Parliament, Hon. Martha Karua, who was in the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) Kenya - and still is -Hon. Kamama and Hon. Mungatana were also Members of the party and they used to walk around with flowers. Their party symbol was green. When we voted in the morning, two of their candidates tied. So, we had to repeat the elections at 4.00 p.m. Tying is very likely and is coming at a time when the House will have serious quorum problems. If we do a joint sitting, and I am not anticipating what the Committee will do, we will save time. The result will be known and if there will be a tie, we will repeat the election. But imagine in our normal way, results are announced, handed to our Speaker and he The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}