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{
    "id": 928109,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/928109/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 266,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mukurweini, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Anthony Kiai",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13439,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Githiaka Kiai",
        "slug": "anthony-githiaka-kiai"
    },
    "content": "We are aware of the situation that has obtained in this country about the validity or otherwise of having three commissioners sitting in the office. We have seen, every year, how the process managed by the IEBC will obtain in the next five years. It would generate either calmness or a lot of heat in the country. The main aim of this amendment Bill is to ensure that the political temperatures in this country will always remain calm; and that political temperatures in this country will not escalate into what we have seen previously. It sometimes results to deaths of innocent citizens. In the panel that is intended, we have tried to look for fairness and wide distribution in so far as selection of the members is concerned. It is to reflect the face of Kenya. You will agree with me that the IEBC is supposed to be apolitical; it is supposed to be non-partisan. The reason why we cannot have a panel to include members of political parties is to ensure that the non- partisan position of IEBC is maintained. It is not only that. If we were to do that, which political party do we select the panelists from? Is it from Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) or Jubilee Party? Political parties change as fast as a lightning strike, every other year we hold elections in this country. Today you have the National Super Alliance (NASA) and tomorrow you have the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). We change every other day. Therefore, we cannot tell how the political landscape will be tomorrow in terms of political parties. As a member of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, it is something that we really sat down about, deliberated on and thought through. We need to cure this violent cycle that occurs every five years. Members may be saying that we need to sit down and discuss this issue and that we need to be more inclusive. But we must start somewhere. We are saying that, as the Committee involved in the legal affairs of this Parliament, we have set the ground. We have set the starting point. We have a starting point. We can now discuss the other issues that flow from there. So, it is my humble submission that the malaise that has been affecting each election cycle after every five years will be cured. It needs to be cured so that, going forward, elections in this country will not be seen as a matter of life and death. I support."
}