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{
    "id": 762685,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/762685/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1180,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Mbarire",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 78,
        "legal_name": "Cecily Mutitu Mbarire",
        "slug": "cecily-mbarire"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me a chance to contribute to this Bill and to also add my voice to that of my colleagues who have spoken before me and thank them for their support and contributions. Let me also begin by congratulating the Committee that did an excellent work, led by the Chairpersons, Hon. Cheptumo and Sen. Fatuma Dullo. We have had a lot of concerns raised and I think the same have been raised by the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, about the timing at which we are changing these laws. I would like to take them back to early this year when we did pass the IEBC (Amendment) Act, where due to what was happening and the reduced trust in IEBC at the time, which was mainly driven by the Opposition, we sat down and formed a Joint Committee that later came up with the laws. At that time, nobody complained about the timing. It was just a few months to the elections. And here we are. We had to change the IEBC, bring in a new commission, and they did not complain. We also made far-reaching changes to the architecture and infrastructure of the IEBC at the time. That is what gave birth to the Electronic Voter Management System. Again, nobody complained about the timing. However, in this particular case, even when we know we are doing this law, informed by the decision of the Supreme Court during the presidential petition, we are still hypocritical enough to talk about timing because it is only a concern when it does not work for us. This Parliament is fully legally constituted and has a right to come up with laws and amend them as and when the need arises. I think it is well in order that we pass this law and ensure that we have peaceful and transparent elections on 26th of this month. Hon Temporary Deputy Speaker, one of the major issues that has been well interrogated by this particular Bill is to ensure that in the absence of the Chair, the Vice-Chair can take over, and run the business of the Chair just like any other member when the two are absent. This is because we do not want to have a vacuum in the Commission especially during this time when critical decisions must be made. I do not know why this is a problem. If you go to the Parliamentary Service Commission Act, it says that the Chair of the Commission can either be the substantive Chair, Vice-Chair or any other member of the Commission in the absence of either the Chair or the Vice-Chair. That is precisely what this Act aims at doing. It is what this law aims to cure by ensuring there will be no vacuum. Article 134 of the Constitution also says that in the absence of the President, the Deputy President acts as the President of this country. When the President went to International Criminal 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."
}