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{
    "id": 826486,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/826486/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 276,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mandera West, EFP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Yussuf Adan",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13420,
        "legal_name": "Adan Haji Yussuf",
        "slug": "adan-haji-yussuf-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I support this Report. I thank the Committee led by eminent friend for having come up with such a Report. The convenors of our Constitution realised that funding political parties is an important support to the development of democracy. Hence, the Political Parties Fund that is enshrined in the Constitution and receives 0.3 per cent of the national revenue was well-thought of. It has not just come by accident. It must have been found to be necessary in order to develop our democracy. Problems emerge when it comes to how that Fund is regulated, released, and shared among the political parties. Regulations stipulate that political parties which reach a certain threshold in Parliamentary representation are the only ones which access this Fund. For example, there are smaller parties. I will take a very good example of my party, the Economic Freedom Party (EFP), which was formed four months before the elections and has five MPs in this House and 27 MCAs at county level. Such political parties are not considered for funding at all. If those regulations are not changed, when do we expect these political parties to grow? When do we expect the democratic freedom of the whole country to be achieved? My suggestion is that when a political party has at least one elected Member of Parliament, it should qualify for funding. Each political party should get an amount of money commensurate to the number of elected Members it has in Parliament. When we say that only big political parties should be funded, we shall always remain their subjects. My small political party, the EFP, has to always look for another party to enter into a coalition in order for it to survive or get a small piece of the Political Parties Fund. On its own, it was able to come up with five elected Members of Parliament and many MCAs at the county levels."
}