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{
    "id": 759143,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/759143/?format=api",
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    "content": "results. That should not be an excuse to do away with the will of the people. The provisions contained in this law require that the select committee looks at putting squarely on the presiding officers, the responsibility of ensuring that the sanctity of even the forms that will carry results. It provides that any presiding officer who refuses to sign a form or tampers with it will face a penalty of serving a jail term of up to five years. That is very important because it seeks to cure the situation that we found ourselves in, where a whole presidential election was nullified on account of lack of signatures. Nevertheless, even when that was not a statutory provision, there was no provision in law that forms 34(a), (b) or (c) should have certain security features. I think the Supreme Court, in the zeal to be seen rather not in conformity, still went ahead to nullify the elections. In my opinion, this law is very timely because we were treated to charades about opening of servers. We were treated to situations where we were told that somebody had certain passwords. When the National Super Alliance (NASA) was asked to provide evidence of hacking of the system, they went ahead to provide us with some software which was not used by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Because Kenyans sometimes do not understand, you leave them at the mercy of conjecture. You want them to speculate yet they are not Information Technology (IT) savvy. Kenyans know what they did on 8th August. They went and ticked or put a mark against names of candidates of their choice and that must always be supreme in our electoral process. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, countries that have advanced in democracy such as Germany continue to use a manual system because they know that there is no perfect technology. They understand that in the current situation, an electronic system cannot be the first point of call. That is a complementary mechanism but what is most important is to count the ballot papers. Angela Merkel has been elected for the fourth time using a manual system and they are very comfortable with it. So, I do not know why we want to imagine ourselves in our own level of democracy that we would want to go the electronic way. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support that the men and women that have been selected to the committee are people of integrity. I urge our boycotting Members of the Senate to join in this noble endeavour to fulfill the duty which they were elected to perform. I think they should not even be paid because they just come and log in and go away. By doing that, they are failing their own people. You will start hearing that there was no consultation or that was one-sided kind of decision yet they have an opportunity to present their issues on the Floor of the House so that we discuss them objectively for the benefit of this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as parliamentarians and Members of this Senate, we cannot abdicate our role. We will listen to various divergent opinions but you must do what you must do. It is quite interesting to hear Members of the other side of the political divide arguing, for example, that we cannot change the rules of the game 26 days or thereabout before the next general election. Let us just be honest here. In 2007, the Kriegler Commission recommended that we should have a commission at least 24 months before the next general election."
}