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{
    "id": 76653,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/76653/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 374,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 185,
        "legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
        "slug": "danson-mungatana"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I really want to stand here and support this Motion very strongly. NARC(K) is one of those political parties, and I speak as the Secretary-General, that has written consistently to the Chief Justice to ask what has happened to the Political Parties Tribunal. This is because we have really been affected. We have had intra and inter-party political disputes. Within the coalition that we used to belong to, we have filed two major cases in court. One of them revolves around the decision by the Registrar of Political Parties to try and put the money that is supposed to be divided, in the hands of a new political party called “Party of National Unity” which was not part of the coalition in the first place. Almost all the money went to the PNU. You can imagine that we are now fighting in court for something close to Kshs29 million. The amount of money that we have to spend on the lawyer alone is a lot. Since these are political parties, it has been very difficult and costly. We do not wish the same thing to happen to other political parties which may have disputes. We are also disputing the ownership of councillors, who initially belonged in NARC(K) and they moved to the PNU. This matter is also in court because it raises the question of who has the power to nominate. When you look at these two disputes, the cost of money that the party has incurred is enormous and it is very unfair. It should not have happened if the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal was in place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are very apprehensive because if you look at the time that has also been taken in the court in terms of setting hearing dates, adjournment of hearings and all that, it is a lot. Money is put aside for these issues, and sometimes financial years come to an end before disputes are resolved. So we sincerely support the formation of this Political Parties Disputes Tribunal and we want it to happen as soon as possible. We want to urge the President to quickly move in as soon as we pass it here. Appointments should be gazetted with speed like they have done with other commissions that we have approved in this place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Tribunal is going to be very critical particularly now looking forward. In future, in this country, we are going to have presidential elections at two levels. We will have the first round and the second round. The likelihood of coalitions is going to be there because once political parties lose elections in the first round, they may want to consider supporting either of the top two candidates. Whatever agreements they may have, they could be subject to disputes. It is obviously true that if this Tribunal is not set up in good time and the rules of operations and engagements are not put in place in time, we may have serious problems in future."
}