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{
    "id": 901669,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/901669/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 295,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I also wish to congratulate the Senator for Narok County for his endless effort to bring Bills to this House. This is a short Bill but with far-reaching amendments to the electoral process. I listened carefully to the distinguished Senator for Narok. I got the impression that he is trying to reduce the weight of the election petition after elections. I also got the impression that he wants to instill a little more responsibility to those who man our elections. Like Sen. Orengo has said, over 50 years since Independence, going to elections in this country remains a fierce battle akin to almost a civil way. It is not just recently, although the intensity of the battle, losses of lives and destructions of property have increased with time. Madam Temporary Speaker, you remember in the old days when the late Paul Ngei hijacked his opponent and tied him with ropes on a tree in a bush so that he could not beat the deadline of submitting his papers at noon as it was then. The submission of papers was only one single day. Madam Temporary Speaker, we also have had other situations. I remember when I stood for elections and because of the uncertainty of system, I had to send an agent to sneak and secretly carry my documents so that when I arrive in the reception area marauding goons do not pounce on me, capture me or take my documents and destroy them. It has happened to others when the deadline is looming and they end up not standing. We have an electoral commission that is charged with a responsibility to conduct free, fair, verifiable, accurate and accountable elections. I doubt if this amendment will enhance this process. I encourage Sen. Ole kina that if I were him, I would have pulled back this amendment and subjected it to some internal mechanisms of picking views from colleagues so that we bring a Bill that involves the situation. The sole responsibility of conducting elections lies with an electoral commission. You can never transfer criminal liability to a candidate on account that they refused to sign a form after the election. There are very many situations where it is difficult, impossible or sometimes undesirable for a candidate to sign on a form. There are elections that are held and conducted in an opaque manner; a manner that is totally inconsistent with the tenets of democracy and does not provide a free and fair environment. Which candidate will be obligated by law to sign a death warrant for their politics? It is because if you sign that form, you acknowledge that the process was free, fair, transparent and credible. You cannot be penalised for not signing a form whose contents you do not agree with because thereafter you have got an avenue to go to court. It could be the High Court, the Court of Appeal and even the Supreme Court. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}