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{
    "id": 739324,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/739324/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want Senators to indulge us on this. If you look at Page 7 of this Report, you will see that the first rule says that the National Assembly of each party state shall elect not from among its Members. However, if you look at this list, you will see that there are people who are serving as Members of Parliament (MPs) on the list. How do we select a person serving as an MP yet in the same rules that were developed by the committee, we are told that the people to be nominated should not be MPs? The reason why this is being done is because leaders from the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) and Jubilee are doing nothing but rubberstamping lists forwarded to them by political party leaders. They have taken these Houses for granted. Members should know that we should not go by any list but by our own conscience and look at people who have applied and determine the appropriate persons to serve in that important institution. Jubilee has a list of 15 people and tomorrow we may be told that the bosses want X, Y, Z or five people to be selected. I want to tell the people in Jubilee, because I was elected on a Jubilee ticket, that we will not go by any list from any party leader. We will not because you cannot have rules here and you break them in broad daylight. If you continue reading the same rule, it says that nine Members shall be elected who shall be represent as much as it is feasible the various political parties represented in the Assembly, shades of opinion, gender, and other specialised interest groups. When you look at the list that has been prepared by political parties, it is in complete disregard of that provision because special groups have not been looked at. Special groups consist of the youth, people with disability, the marginalised and minorities like the Speaker’s Community, but they have not looked at any of these. That is political expediency. That is the way nominations have been done in the National Assembly. It is “who is who” that comes in. They look at who is whose brother, son or girlfriend. It is that kind of list that we are being given today. So, as Members of the Senate, we should not entertain that because there are certain leaders of political parties who are determined to destroy this country. We have seen what has happened in the recent past. Luckily, I was not a candidate and therefore a victim of their foul play, but we saw what happened in central Kenya, Rift Valley, Nyanza and some other areas of Ukambani. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, what is happening will destroy this country. Considering the manner in which primaries have been conducted and forgetting about other institutions, even this Senate is being set up for shut down in the next Parliament because all the brains and key persons have been locked out. There is a systematic way in which people who can serve the interest of party leaders should be in Parliament so that the constitutionalism we have in this country is not destroyed. We must safeguard constitutionalism and principles and rules in which institutions like EALA have been set up. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, lastly, it will be a shame if such kind of leaders come to power. Fellow Senators, you must be cautious. It is not just about corruption. There are people who do not want to see law and order but want to take a shortcut to everything. These are the people preparing themselves not just for 2017 but for 2022. We must be alert and careful in 2017 and beyond."
}