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{
    "id": 739361,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/739361/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
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    "content": "mandate clear because that is what the Constitution says. The question of jointly electing may not be so much in accordance with the Constitution of separating the roles of the two Houses. The positions should have been divided so that as much as we are now saying the parties should nominate, the two Houses are also separate and they should elect the numbers separately. The Treaty and the rules are very clear; that shades of opinion should be considered. How we are going to achieve that from among the names that had been nominated after election---. What if after election, we find that we do not attain the one third gender rule or there is not even one youth featuring because they did not have money to campaign or to mobilize and so forth? This is because we have to campaign to be elected. On regional balance, looking at the names that had been submitted by the two sides, we find that some regions were completely left out while others had several names. There was no single name from the former Western Kenya region and yet people from there had applied. Other areas had several names. There was no design to exclude the others. Probably this came about because there was no meeting by the two parties to agree on how to balance in terms of region, community, minority and to consider other interests before these appointments were done. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, political parties played a major role in these appointments. However, they blocked others from benefiting from these positions which was unconstitutional and this should be discouraged. The Constitution talks about democracy, transparency, inclusivity and cooperation. The list of the applicants from both sides does not show the criteria they used to exclude others. We should demand for the minutes showing why other Kenyans were denied opportunity to serve in EALA. We all know EALA is an assembly where our representatives champion our interests. We do not send people there to satisfy their political egos or their financial interests. These are our ambassadors out there. These are people of integrity and highly specialized in the various fields. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is a pity that every time we change our membership in EALA. This does not augur well because we are at risk of losing institutional memory. Among the list of nominees, there are members of EALA who are very active and we know them. It is sad that they are not on this list. In future, we should give a chance to those members who have served there because of institutional memory. For example, those who have served for one term should be given an automatic opportunity to serve again because they have experience. If we send a new team to go and learn, by the time they are done, their term elapses. This is not a college to send people to learn. We are sending them to champion the interest of our beloved country. Kenya today is a leader in East Africa. Therefore, we stand to lose our leadership position if we do not nominate people with great experience and those who have the interest of this country at heart. We should not just nominate people who want to get those positions for the sake of earning salary and enrich themselves. We need not send people there because they lost in the party nominations or they were told to stand down because they will be considered for nomination to EALA and yet they have no interest in matters of the EAC. Some of these people in this list have blessings of their party leaders. The truth is that most of them were rejected by the electorate. It is a pity that EALA has become a dumping ground for political rejects."
}