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{
    "id": 902853,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/902853/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 298,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Pareno",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13180,
        "legal_name": "Judith Ramaita Pareno",
        "slug": "judith-ramaita-pareno"
    },
    "content": "called to determine the winner and the ODM candidate won the seat with a small margin, which was a clear indication that the people of Kinondo Ward liked the two candidates. After winning that seat, ODM had more numbers in the county assembly, but the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) did not adjust the nomination slots. They said that they do not have a law for that. When IEBC does not want to do something, they always have an excuse, and I am a witness to a lot of malpractices done by them. They once said that they have a way of interfering with the party list, just for them to again say that they do not know how to interfere with it. The excuse they gave was that they do not have a law. The IEBC interfered with a lot of party lists and that is why we were discussing party lists as late as last week. We have cases where IEBC received letters from people who have no authority and went ahead to declare a sit vacant and replaced one person with another. They even published a gazette notice without crosschecking with the party. I am so cross with Chebukati and the IEBC team. One cannot interfere with party lists. We took a case to court, where one of the IEBC officers removed our candidate and placed his own mother in the nomination list. It has taken the party so long to correct that, and they are yet to explain to us how it happened. Someone has to be held accountable for doing such a wrong thing. At the moment, I have a case in Kajiado that I do not want to discuss much because it is still pending in court. In that case, the IEBC received a letter from someone with no authority and went ahead to replace a candidate without the party‟s directive or resolution. The laws that we are amending will help streamline these things. The IEBC will always give the excuse of not having laws when they do not want to do something, but will be the first ones to produce gazette notices and go ahead to say that the law does not allow them to change something that is already in the Kenya Gazette . I support these amendments, but we have to sweep the IEBC. We had a caucus the other day where we discussed ways of improving party primaries. We proposed that the Registrar of Political Parties be given more power in order for her to protect the parties and their interests. We felt that the holder of that office is unable to act because a lot of the things they are supposed to do are being done by the IEBC. We all agreed that IEBC cannot resolve disputes when they are part of the mess. The IEBC cannot be the prosecutor, judge and witnesses. We have to separate some of these things. The IEBC should stop hearing disputes arising from political party lists and nominations. Instead, the disputes should be heard by another body. I support the proposal by Sen. (Dr.) Zani. However, as we were also discussing the other amendments by Sen. Olekina, I kept saying that what we need are comprehensive amendments and an overhaul of our electoral system and laws. This is to include all that we need to tighten up that we think is loose. That should be the case instead of Sen. (Dr.) Zani bringing this amendment today, and yesterday, Sen. Olekina brought another. Tomorrow, we will be proposing others after doing that caucus on political parties with the Registrar of Political Parties. We just need to sit down and sort out this mess once and for all. 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."
}