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"speaker_name": "Hon. A. B. Duale",
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"content": "The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.39 of 2017) seeks, among other things, to amend Section 39 of the Elections Act by deleting the provisions on provisional results which were declared unconstitutional by the High Court and the Court of Appeal by creating clarity on Section 83 which deals with provisions of non-compliance with the law. This is very clear. Section 39(2) of the Elections Act provided for a provisional result. That section was annulled in the Maina Kiai Case, both by the High Court and subsequently by the Court of Appeal. In the absence of that, this House must create something. That is why this Bill is saying: “We want to have a concurrence of both systems; the live streaming or the transmission on one hand and a complementary manual system where every Returning Officer (RO) of the 292 stations can provide Form 34A which is not altered, stamped, with a seal and signatures.” That is what we are asking for. Our colleagues were saying: “We will not go back to the elections unless the field is level.” This Bill is creating the field to be level. So, where is Raila Odinga? I am doing his work. He has been crying that the field should be equal. This Bill is making the playing field equal and his people are not here. I am sure they can come back and read the HANSARD. So, that provision was annulled by the Maina Kiai case. I want to commend Hon. Cheptumo, the Member for Baringo North Constituency, for signing this Bill on behalf of the Majority Party and the Speaker for appending a signature to it. It was in order to provide an opportunity for the House to review election laws. He was a Member of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs in the last Parliament. As I had stated earlier, the said Committee has 15 Members. We are now waiting for NASA to nominate their Members to the Committee before the end of the day. We urge them to expedite that matter and forward the names to you and ultimately to the House. This Bill, you saw this morning, is now in public domain. Once a Bill is read for the First Time, it becomes a public document. How do we comply with Article 118 of the Constitution? From tomorrow, I am sure the Office of the Clerk will put the necessary advertisement in the newspaper. This Committee will sit. It will sit and start with the IEBC as the user of this law. The IEBC can disagree with us on this law. They can bring more amendments. They can improve on the law or on the Bill. We want the church, political parties, representatives of the presidential candidates to come. We want as many groups to come. Even the civil society, should come and appear before the Committee. This law is not cast in stone. Public participation will be done for a period not exceeding 10 days. You have 10 days and the facilities of Parliament are there. Those who are saying we are sneaking this Bill are wrong. We are not. We are only forming a Committee. The Committee will go and sit with everybody; all and sundry. So, Parliament cannot be gagged. The Members of Parliament cannot be gagged, and this Committee cannot be gagged. All we want is to streamline and have free, fair and credible elections where the winner wins it fairly and the loser loses in a fair contest. The Select Committee is required, pursuant to Standing Order No.127(3), to facilitate public participation on the Bill through an appropriate mechanism including inviting submissions of memoranda, holding public hearings, consulting relevant stakeholders drawn from, among others, representatives of the presidential candidates from the Jubilee Party, NASA, the Third Way Alliance, religious organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), members of the civil society and members of the public. Further, pursuant to Standing Order No.127(3)(a), the Select Committee is also expected to take into account the views and recommendations of the 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."
}