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    "id": 777892,
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    "content": "issue of people blaming each other. Somebody will say it was not me. So, the utmost responsibility must be adhered to at any one time. Clause 6 is very clear. It states that the boundaries of a county may, in accordance with Article 188 of the Constitution, be altered only by a resolution. This Clause is entrenched in Article 188 of the Constitution. However, it also raises the question that Sen. Kang’ata has brought up and I was thinking about the same; the role of the IEBC. My take is that going the amendment way might take long. We need to think of having a subcommittee within the IEBC to have the responsibility because this is something very urgent and it needs to be done. Again, we do not want to create a situation where we double up responsibilities but we want to have it entrenched in an institution that people have faith in. We cannot say that for the IEBC at the moment. They have already started looking at boundaries but a lot of discussion needs to be done. One committee of the Senate should seize especially the First Schedule and take the information round to all the counties. They could for example take education materials to counties so that by the time we go for public participation, the information will be round and discussions going on in the counties, so that issues of counties’ boundaries are ironed out in advance. This will help to address the misconceptions before discussion on the Bill. That will create a sense of peace and understanding right from the outset. Clause 7 talks about a mediation committee. It provides for putting teams together to discuss issues in case there is any misunderstanding or anything that needs to be discussed and put into place. Madam Temporary Speaker, you will remember that in the last Parliament, mediation committees were very key. We could have lost many Bills if we did not have mediation committees that ran very well by hearing people who made the right decisions. I remember I was in one mediation committee and there was a tie across coalitions. We had one person move from one side of a coalition to the other because, according to them, they were doing the right thing. Such mediation committees are what we need and I can see the requirements for committee members. We also need to know the type of person who will sit in such committees. For example, we should know if they are administrators, local community leaders, elders or if they are knowledgeable. We need to be specific about that. We should also have somebody who has experience in conflict management. Up to this point, the Bill is thinking through most of the issues that might come up and need to be addressed in a concise manner. I will now move to Clause 18(2) which provides that a petition made under sub- section 1(a) shall be supported by at least 15 per cent of the registered voters of the petitioner’s county. Modalities will have to be put into place to ensure that a person who supports a petition understands what is going on and they can defend the position that they have taken. It also makes it a participatory process, creates involvement, creates authenticity and a level of authority that people should have before they can support. I know in many The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
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