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{
    "id": 896538,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/896538/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 118,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bondo, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Gideon Ochanda",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1264,
        "legal_name": "Gideon Ochanda Ogolla",
        "slug": "gideon-ochanda-ogolla"
    },
    "content": "wants to achieve. There are nine clear indicative agendas that were on his speech, one of them being the fight against corruption. Fighting corruption has been changed to mean many things. For example, it is now being seen as a way of looking at the 2022 elections, an ethnic cleansing process and all other manner of things. However, BBI was a clear-cut agenda. The next thing – and this is where the nation must focus on – is elections. It ought to have been the number one agenda in the BBI. If we are concerned about the future of this nation, its children - as it has been mentioned here – its resources and how we are to move as a nation, it will be important, at this particular time, before the next elections, to retreat and see how we will manage our elections in future. What is dividing us, more than any other thing, is elections. I am sure the elections of the year 2022 will divide us more if we do not address the pertinent electoral issues now before we get to the heat of the moment. There is going to be a big problem in this country. The commitment to BBI and fighting many other ills in the society is going to be zero if we are not careful, in terms of how we handle our elections in the year 2022. For us to handle elections properly in the year 2022, the issues around elections must be addressed now. If we delay and start addressing them after next year, there will be a problem. The issues around the electoral commission and how we are going to manage procurement of equipment that will be used in our next elections must be looked at now. How political parties are going to handle elections must be looked at now. The mess that is in the political parties is the mess that moved to the Electoral Commission in one way or the other and messed up the whole elections. It got us the “winner takes it all” electoral system. Maybe, we will not have the candidates, like the current ones, who will go back to shake hands. After the 2022 elections, the winner will take it all again. When the winner takes it all, the loser who contested in the elections will say no and that will be a big problem to the country, if we do not fix it now. I want to implore the entire leadership of the country that it is important that we get it right with our electoral issues now rather than later. Let us get to know who will manage our elections and who will be trusted by Kenyans. The other thing that the President mentioned is commitment to devolution. For sure, that commitment is being realised. We are seeing it and the resources are flowing. However, there is a pull back. Some of the functions that were supposed to have been devolved were not devolved. The resources that were supposed to go to the counties are not going there. So, the commitment must be re-checked. The issue of food production in this country must be re-checked. I mentioned here the other day that we have a big problem with the food situation in the country. If you go to the border posts like Kiunga Border Post, you will realise that all our food is coming from outside. So, what is it that we are doing? We must re-check how we are producing. Our land is fertile. Nature was good to all of us even in Turkana where there is wind. So, let us consider what we can invest in as a Government, so that we do away with the issue of food insecurity in the country. I support."
}