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{
    "id": 780244,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/780244/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 289,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "March 13, 2018 SENATE DEBATES 51 Sen. Pareno",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for allowing me to proceed with the debate. I am happy that the Mover is around to hear what I will say on this Floor. I thank him and Sen. (Dr.) Milgo for representing us in the conference. This conference was established under the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) with the main of ensuring peace, security, democracy, development and resolutions of conflict among the conference parties. I took note of two things when the hon. Member was moving the Motion. There was a lot of interests in their discussion with regard to countries that held elections in 2017. For example, Kenya was a topic for discussion because we had our general elections in 2017. We all remember towards election date, a very senior Information Communication Technology (ICT) Director of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Chris Musando, was mysteriously killed after being tortured. To this date, we do not know what happened. Few days to the election, the IEBC Chairman, Wafula Chebukati told Kenyans that he was not sure whether he would deliver a free and fair election. A few days later, he changed his mind and assured Kenyans of delivering a credible election. No wonder it was the reason we were a topic of discussion at the conference. We, as a country, what impression did we create in that conference? Were we seen as people who conducted free and credible elections? Are we a good example of democracy in developing countries? What caught the attention for our country to be discussed in this Conference is that days before the general elections, one of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) commissioners resigned and said that she could not guarantee a free and fair exercise. I understand why they came out to discuss Kenya in this particular Conference. Madam Temporary Speaker, on 8th August last year, we conducted the general election but the presidential election was annulled. We entered the books of history as the fourth country to annul a presidential election in the world. I am sure that all these things led my lovely country, Kenya, to be discussed in this Conference. They were within their mandate because the mandate of the Conference is to have an overview on how our countries are behaving when it comes to the democratic principles that we promise to abide with. Madam Temporary Speaker, I went ahead to look at page 15 of the Report that was tabled. It has some of the interesting findings that were reported about our elections. They said that the European Union Election Observation Mission (EUEOM) noted that there was delay in the start of voting, there was no biometric identification and there was delay in delivery of the voting equipment. Despite seeing what was happening in our elections, inclusive of what I have indicated, they went ahead to say that the elections in Kenya were free and fair. We have moved on as a country. However, in future, whoever attends these conferences should propose that EUEOM should not only observe elections on the day of the election. We tend to forget that there are so much preparations towards an election, on the day of the election and the day after the election when there is counting of votes. In future, the EUEOM should take into account the entire process. Election is not just about how long the queues were and how peaceful the people were as they queued 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."
}