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{
    "id": 826443,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/826443/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyando, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jared Okelo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13457,
        "legal_name": "Jared Odoyo Okelo",
        "slug": "jared-odoyo-okelo-2"
    },
    "content": "general aggregate. The formula upon which the National Treasury relies to share out this money is so skewed that it leaves political parties with nothing, but to suffer on the streets at the end of the day, to get money to run their affairs. We must follow the law. We must follow both the Constitution and the Political Parties Act in order to properly run the affairs of political parties such that what is meant for political parties goes to political parties, as the Bible would say “give Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” Let us give political parties money that is due to them. My political party, the ODM, as everybody knows, apart from KANU and FORD-K, is one of the parties that have withstood the test of time. Any political party would now want to be recognised. Therefore, I recognise all political parties. Suffice to say, the ODM has consistently posted and qualified audit reports for the last 10 years. In the advancement of purity of elections and usage of public funds, political parties must adhere to the Public Finance Management Act so that they do not swindle money that is got from the suffering taxpayer. As my Chairman alluded, my political party, where I sit as a member of the National Executive Committee in charge of resource mobilisation and public policy, is acquiring a new office in due course. Before the dawn of New Year, ODM will have its headquarters bought by its own funds and got through its channels where I play a pivotal role. I think we need to challenge all political parties, as the Chair said. With certainty, we should know where political parties’ offices are. Let us challenge ourselves to acquire offices to run our political matters. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we also noted that the immediate Registrar of Political Parties, Madam Lucy Ndung’u, had been serving in an acting capacity for the last 10 years. Her successor, Ms. Anne Nderitu, is still serving in an acting capacity though she has only served for the last three months. If we are going to allow public officers in very important positions to serve in acting capacity for so long, we also curtail their powers to make certain decisions as they run the affairs of their dockets. When you ask why somebody would serve in an office in an acting capacity for 10 years, you get no answer. This does not sit well even with the Labour Relations Act and all the enabling laws that govern labour. We need to find a formula upon which one can only act within a set period of time rather than leave it open-ended. We also need to curtail the establishment and winding up of political parties at will. If we were to take an example of what happens in the United States of America, only two parties have existed forever. You only talk about a Democrat or a Republican. In fact, they were posting results on the mid-term elections this morning. I am glad the Democratic Party has seized most of the positions, particularly in the House of Representatives. Everybody knows that you either belong to the Grand Old Party (GOP), which is the Republican or you are a member of the Democratic Party. In Kenya, even as we speak, we do not know which political parties are going to exist in 2022. We have had a new party coming into power every time we had elections in the last four general elections, hence creating a lot of confusion amongst our people. This country needs to step back, reflect and retool and only have political parties that will be there today and tomorrow for our generation and generations to come. It is high time we stopped this kind of confusion for the wellbeing of our democratic ideals. With those remarks, I support."
}