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{
    "id": 826506,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/826506/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 296,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Siaya CWR, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Christine Ombaka",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1007,
        "legal_name": "Christine Oduor Ombaka",
        "slug": "christine-oduor-ombaka"
    },
    "content": " Thank you Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for this opportunity. Just like most Members here, I would like to applaud the Committee that has come up with this Report. The audit report on the funds for political parties is a good thing because it demonstrates, first and foremost, that parties are ready to have their books audited. That is good. What may be said about parties and that money is given to them and they do not account for it does not arise. So, it is a good step that shows that parties are ready to be transparent and have the funds they have received audited. It is also true that when you do not get funds to improve your party - like we never had parties getting funds from the State - failure comes. Today we have funds. It is great history of democracy in this country. It is promotion and sustainability of democracy. Parties given funds from the State will be stronger than ever before. Many parties across the world are equally supported. More importantly, they are supported by their members. Apart from the money we receive from the State, parties still need to raise their own money because they cannot just wait for the State to give them money and be audited. They must also raise funds from their own members. The role of parties is to me very huge. The State should give their part without hesitation. It is bad if they can only give 0.1 per cent and not 0.3 per cent of national revenue yet take a lot of time to do so. The delay in disbursing funds is the beginning of frustrations for a party. It means that parties that are frustrated as a result of lack of funds will never grow. They will never champion democracy, freedom and all that goes with human rights. So, it is important that the State becomes more responsible in disbursing funds. Once these funds are disbursed correctly and used well, it will be audited and we will see how the impact has been. There is the argument of small parties as well not receiving funds. There is the argument of bigger parties getting the bigger chunk. That is the logical thing to do, generally. When you are big, you get big money. When small, you are given a little. Even children growing are sometimes given little food, not that it is a good thing it is a bad one. At least big parties have wider space to cover. The ODM party that I belong to is a national party. It is cuts across the country. All parts of this country feel it. So, you cannot give it such little money compared to other small ones that are within one constituency or something to that effect. So, it is necessary that even though you have small parties, there is a formula that The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}