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{
"id": 946165,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/946165/?format=api",
"text_counter": 207,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
"speaker": {
"id": 49,
"legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
"slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
},
"content": "to have a stand-alone Bill, it may not be feasible and, perhaps, there might not be need to have a stand-alone Bill. It is for that reason that we set out to amend quite a number of Acts of Parliament, so that we are able to achieve what is intended to be achieved by Article 100. It is important to recognise that the 11th Parliament had developed a Bill by amending various Acts, including the Political Parties Act and the Elections Act, all of which were trying to encourage political parties to make it possible for special interest groups to have representation in Parliament. They had tried to look for a balance through party primary nominations that would increase their electoral chances in Parliament and also to reserve some seats in the Legislature for special interest groups. The Committee observed that although this amendment was passed into law, it did not quite achieve what Article 100 intended. It is for that reason that we, as a Committee, again went into the motions and to ensure that this particular Bill gives effect to Article 100 by trying to create an enabling environment for special interest groups to have representation in Parliament. The Bill that is before us proposes to amend the following Acts: The IEBC Act of 2011, the Political Parties Act of 2011, the Elections Act of 2011, the National Gender and Equality Commission Act of 2011, the Election Campaign Financing Act of 2013 and the Election Offences Act, No.37 of 2016. The Bill seeks to amend the IEBC Act, first, in Section 2 to broaden the definition to include special interest groups, namely; women, persons with disabilities, youth, minorities and other marginalised communities. Secondly, the Bill seeks to amend Section 4 of the IEBC Act to allow the Commission, during its preparation of the voters role, to capture the data of all categories of special interest groups so that when you look at the data available, you can tell the number of persons with disabilities, the number of women, the number of persons within the ethnic minorities and other marginalised communities. The Bill also seeks to give the Commission power to prepare party lists for nomination purposes. Perhaps the clearest way of doing it would be through regulations, but that is also what the Bill seeks to do. The third aspect that the Bill intends to amend is the use of voter education, so that it is a means by which all voters, including special interest groups, can be reached through the use of appropriate technology that would be accessible by special interest groups. Further, the Bill seeks to amend Section 27 of the IEBC Act to require it to publish and publicise all important information within its mandate using modes accessible to special interest groups. On the Political Parties Act, the Bill seeks, again, to amend Section 2, so that the definition as contained in Section 2 is inclusive of the definition as contained under Article 100 regarding special interest groups. This will ensure that all those categories under Article 100 are properly included in the definition of the Political Parties Act. Again, the Bill seeks to amend Section 20 of the Political Parties Act, so that when political parties intend to change their constitution, they not only should publicise in two newspapers with nationwide circulation, but also carry it in their website, if they have any. The Bill will also require them to do it in a manner and form that will be accessible by special interest groups. An area Members would want to pay a lot of attention to is Section 25. The Bill seeks to provide a new formula for distribution of the Political Parties Fund as follows – (a) fifty-three per cent of the funds available should be shared between the largest party and the second largest political party or coalition of parties; 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."
}