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{
    "id": 981182,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/981182/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 435,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker Sir, we on the Senate Minority side have a very noble tradition of consulting and taking a common position on some of these issue that have formed part of the national discourse. I would not want to appear to contradict the Senate Minority Leader, but I believe that this is one of those issues that we probably would have benefited by canvassing and taking a position. Not just a position of the Senate Minority Leader, but a position that will put the Senate at the level that it is supposed to be. When this country was going into the last elections and we did not have election laws that could steer us into that election, it is this Senate that was called upon. It was a bi-partisan Committee that was chaired from both sides of the House by Sen. Orengo and Sen. Murungi. That Committee comprised of some very eminent Senators. I see the Senate Majority Leader is here. They did an excellent job of diffusing the time bomb that would have blow up in our faces. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have said it in the past that it is not just a matter of taking the Bills and the legislations as they come from the National Assembly. We have a higher responsibility. This country is expecting that before legislation is assented to by the President, the Senate will apply that sober second thought and view to all these issues. I was personally on the streets, taking on an IEBC that was not fit for its purpose. I personally got injuries, went though teargas and all the travails of being on the streets participating in terms of civil disobedience for a particular cause. I am convinced that we need an IEBC that is fit for purpose. I am convinced that the approach we had to nomination of members and Chairpersons of the IEBC is flawed. I am just not convinced that the approach that we have put on the table is the best one. Even if it was the best one, it is important for this House to be convinced on the basis of reducing the number from the 11 proposed by the National Assembly to seven 7 by the Committee of Justice and Legal Affairs and Huma Rights so that we do a vote that is devoid of the strict political formations, at the end of the day. We do a vote that the Senate Majority Leader will be proud to say that the Senate has once again taken a vote that has put ahead the interest of the country rather than the interest of political formations. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I, therefore, support conditionally, subject to a proper explanation on the reduction in numbers and whether this is the best approach that we can take."
}