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{
    "id": 960315,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/960315/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 126,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "The report of the census like the one which was done this year, ultimately informs how many constituencies you are going to have in Narok or Nairobi, then you are told three people from IEBC will sit down, just like we go back to the time when we had an imperial president where three to five people who were not elected will say this constituency can be moved from this place to another without a politically negotiated process that involves elected people from their constituencies and counties. The reason I am saying this is because, today, Murkomen may have a say in IEBC. The commissioners who might be sitting there may have a leaning to a particular political persuasion or may have an ear of politically-correct individuals. That should not affect the leadership of our country without being subjected to checks and balances and oversight of the legislature. I am saying so because I would like to persuade Members of this House that Parliament, as a people’s representative, has a responsibility to ensure that delimitation of constituencies and boundaries is a people-oriented exercise; that people ought to participate not just directly, but also through their people’s representative. Secondly, Parliament which has the responsibility of oversighting all institutions, must ensure that they have oversighted such reports of constituencies and wards. I have made my presentation on this issue, because I have caucused with a number of our Members in this House. My submission on this issue is not in my capacity as the Senate Majority Leader. This is almost like a Private Members Bill. The idea behind it is to ensure that we follow the globally established practice on delimitation of wards and constituencies. I am saying so, because if you go to Germany, the German Constitution provides that in the delimitation of constituencies by Independent Electoral District Commission, it is mandatory that votes of Parliament--- that the commission’s report is tabled in Parliament for approval. In the United States of America (USA), the question of determination of representation is dependent on legislation of Congress to determine the number of constituencies and how they will function. The word gerrymandering comes from the American vocabulary on delimitation of boundaries. It was about how political competition between the Democrats and Republicans plays itself in the Congress when they determine the number of constituencies that will be available for the Congress or the House of Representation because the Senators and the Senate are established in the Constitution."
}