{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=139503","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=139501","results":[{"id":1411431,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411431/?format=json","text_counter":179,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Farah Maalim","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":16,"legal_name":"Farah Maalim Mohamed","slug":"farah-maalim"},"content":" Next is Hon. Mogaka. Is he in the House? If not, let us have Hon. Thuku Kwenya."},{"id":1411432,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411432/?format=json","text_counter":180,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kinangop, JP","speaker_title":"Hon. Kwenya Thuku","speaker":{"id":13380,"legal_name":"Zachary Kwenya Thuku","slug":"zachary-kwenya-thuku"},"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Bill. First, I want to congratulate the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. This is the first product of the nine proposed Bills by the NADCO Report. In a very special way, I also thank the Members who sat in NADCO, and who were magnanimous enough to propose some changes in the law so that we do not experience skirmishes, struggles and pain after every election. I have participated in three elections and won. Unfortunately, after every win, we are faced with a crisis that culminates in bloodshed, loss of property and destruction of hours that would otherwise be used productively. I carefully listened to the Leader of the Majority Party as he moved this Bill and he said that we should be careful not to amend even a comma in this Bill. I am happy that the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs was firm enough that The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1411433,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411433/?format=json","text_counter":181,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kinangop, JP","speaker_title":"Hon. Kwenya Thuku","speaker":{"id":13380,"legal_name":"Zachary Kwenya Thuku","slug":"zachary-kwenya-thuku"},"content":"this is not cast in stone. I agree with the Chairperson because this Bill can be changed and improved. Members of Parliament are mandated to introduce, amend and pass laws that are suitable for this country. I have carefully read the Bill and its proposals. In the past, all Chairpersons of the IEBC were lawyers, and we have had to replace them after each election due to legal issues. However, I have never seen them defend the Commission in court as they always have a battery of lawyers to do so. Therefore, I disagree with the proposal that the IEBC Chairperson should have the same status as a Supreme Court judge. I believe that anyone with good standing can be the IEBC Chairperson. We need someone who can manage the election process. We do not necessarily need a lawyer but an individual with a basic understanding of the law. An individual who has served in Parliament for a long time is good enough to chair the electoral body. This is one area where I will be proposing an amendment. We need to open up this position and stop giving preferences to certain professional groups. Honourable Temporary Speaker, I have noted the proposal in Clause 6, which states that “Commission shall, after every general election, review its operation and make the necessary changes required to make its operations more efficient, effective, transparent, and accountable.” I agree with this proposal as every organisation should review itself after completing a task. However, we are aware of the past controversies surrounding election processes. Presently, we are faced with issues concerning the 2022 election, with one of the disputing groups calling for an audit of the election. The NADCO Report suggest that a committee should be formed to interrogate the 2022 election because some people want the servers to be opened. However, the said committee is not anchored in any legal framework. An audit after every election would be critical so that checks and balances are provided. The audit committee's mandate should be grounded in law. As much as we will allow IEBC to review itself, a committee should be appointed by the President in the same manner as the IEBC commissioners. This will bring to rest some of the worries that every participant in an election goes through. Instead of resorting to demonstrations, we can wait for this committee to conduct a post-election audit. This will cure some of the problems that we have been facing after every electoral cycle. If this committee is anchored in law, it will help cure some of these issues. I am happy that the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs plans to propose an amendment. In case it slips through his fingers, I will also propose an amendment that the term for the secretary to the Commission should not be less than six years. In the event we appoint one today, he will run an election because his term exceeds an electoral cycle. The proposal for a three-year renewable term limit is not reasonable. The issue of boundary review is immediate and should be addressed urgently. We are running out of time as the Constitution provides that boundary reviews should be conducted at least once in every eight years and not more than every 12 years. We are now approaching the 12-year mark. Therefore, we need to take action sooner rather than later. We must go beyond the proposed amendments and take advantage of this moment to review the Constitution and make the necessary changes. In 2010, when our Constitution was birthed, our population was around 30 million. Today we are approaching the 55 million mark yet our constituencies remain the same. This is limiting as the Constitution only provides for 290 constituencies. It cannot be that we are under lock and key. As members of Parliament and legislators, we should unlock ourselves and give Kenyans fair representation in this House. Hon. Temporary Speaker, on the issue of wards, the Commission has a free hand to increase the number of wards at any given time. However, as far as constituencies are concerned, we are bound by the Constitution. Therefore, it is about time we revisited Article 89 on review of boundaries so that we make an amendment and increase the number of constituencies in this country. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1411434,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411434/?format=json","text_counter":182,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kinangop, JP","speaker_title":"Hon. Kwenya Thuku","speaker":{"id":13380,"legal_name":"Zachary Kwenya Thuku","slug":"zachary-kwenya-thuku"},"content":"With those remarks, I support this Bill but I have my reservations. I am going to bring amendments during the Committee of the whole House so that we align and make sure that this law serves the people of Kenya. I thank you for the opportunity."},{"id":1411435,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411435/?format=json","text_counter":183,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Farah Maalim","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":16,"legal_name":"Farah Maalim Mohamed","slug":"farah-maalim"},"content":" Next is Hon. Gladys Boss Shollei, who will be followed by Hon. Omboko Milemba."},{"id":1411436,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411436/?format=json","text_counter":184,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Uasin Gishu County, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Gladys Boss","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this very important Bill. When I stand here, I speak as someone who was part of the initial team – the Interim Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission that changed our electoral management system. I also stand here as someone who is an expert in election operations. Looking at this Bill, I know that many of my colleagues have said that there is a problem with amending the electoral law after every election. There is nothing wrong with doing that at all. The international practice is that after every election, the electoral management body is supposed to undertake a review, re-look at its operations, look at the challenges that were raised in various election petitions, look at what the courts pronounced themselves on, and based on that, they re-look at the law and make sure that it is aligned with those challenges. It also looks at some of the laws that did not make sense and caused challenges during the election management process and then make changes. So, in fact, it is a positive thing. If you look at the history of election management in Kenya, we made the turnaround after the 2007 post-election violence. What happened is that our election system had several challenges. It caused violence after every election. During that time, Kenya had what we call the Kriegler Commission, which went round the country, interviewed people and reviewed the entire register."},{"id":1411437,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411437/?format=json","text_counter":185,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Technical hitch)"},{"id":1411438,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411438/?format=json","text_counter":186,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Farah Maalim","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":16,"legal_name":"Farah Maalim Mohamed","slug":"farah-maalim"},"content":" Madam Shollei, Proceed."},{"id":1411439,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411439/?format=json","text_counter":187,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Uasin Gishu County, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Gladys Boss","speaker":null,"content":" Hon. Temporary Speaker, we then had the Kriegler Commission, which probably had the most in-depth review of our elections infrastructure that includes our election operations, our voter registration, our voter management system, and our register. Based on that, the new format of election management in Kenya was born. So, it was not by default. It was based on the Kriegler Commission. I was privileged and honoured to be part of the team that implemented the Kriegler Commission Report. That is where the whole issue of having biometric registration began, the reason being that the Kriegler Commission found that our register used to have dead voters. There is, really, nothing wrong with having dead voters on a register. The problem in Kenya was that the dead voters would, in fact, vote. So, the biometric process of registration and identification of voters was intended to ensure that only those who walk physically to polling stations would vote. So it is not by mistake that we review our election management system. Then, in 2010, during the first management of the elections, particularly during the referendum, it was realised that the electronic vote transmission system became overloaded. It was after that that we reviewed the problem and undertook to ensure that we had a better system next time. So, the system must keep improving. That is why we have the original Mercedes- Benz and the latest Mercedes-Benz. Systems must continue to be evaluated. Therefore, let us disabuse ourselves of the notion that there is something wrong with us because we review our election management system and our election laws. In 2013, the court pronounced itself on where the final announcement of the result should be made. It was then said that the final result would be announced at the polling station. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1411440,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411440/?format=json","text_counter":188,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Uasin Gishu County, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Gladys Boss","speaker":null,"content":"It was because of experiences. That is why we changed our laws to say that the results announced at the polling stations would be the final result. Also, other systems were later introduced, like having a maximum of 700 voters at a polling station. One of the ways of corrupting the electoral system used to be manipulation of the numbers at polling stations where you could have 10,000 people at a polling station. Of course, they would not all vote, which means you actually disenfranchise people. Because of that, again, I was part of the team that learnt that lesson and determined that the number of people who should vote at a polling station should be a maximum of 700. That decision was arrived at scientifically. It takes five minutes for each person to vote. In a day, you have 720 minutes. Therefore, you can only have 144 people voting between Six O'clock in the morning and Five O'clock in the evening. If you put six polling booths, six clerks and six processing clerks, what happens is that you will have six people voting at the same time. Therefore, you come to the figure of 700. So, it is a science. We only learnt that and improved our law from experience. Therefore, I encourage that we constantly keep looking at our laws. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I will now look at three other items. Having given the historical background and evolution of our electoral system, I will now look at three aspects. One, I do not agree with the proposal that a CEO should serve for a term of three years. It is too short. One only becomes an election expert by the number of times they conduct elections. It is like telling me that somebody becomes an expert surgeon by operating patients for only three years. If we want to build a cadre of electoral experts, they have to serve for a long time. Yes, I agree that the Commission must have a limited time but for the technical staff, at least for a CEO, they should serve three election cycles to make sense. In fact, I belong to the electoral network called Bridge, where you constantly go and observe elections, attend trainings and exchange notes where people teach others what happened in their own countries and so on. So, if you have a CEO for three years, my God! I do not know how he is going to run the elections. That is a very bad amendment. The danger is more in a commissioner staying longer and not a CEO, who is a technical staff. Today if you go to the Electoral Commission, the constituency election coordinators have probably done three election cycles because the first group was hired when I was there in 2010. You find that they get better with time. All we do is just keep changing them so that they are not serving in the same station. If you look at the directors that are there, they have become better and better with time. Even now, we must ask ourselves, if we hire commissioners today, will those commissioners be experts enough to run the elections in 2027? The people who manage the elections are the technical staff. They are the ones who understand voter education, voter registration, management of the register and the IT systems. So, you cannot have a turnover of CEOs. I welcome the change that has been made to define who the chairperson is. This is in tandem with Article 250. It also aligns with the Katiba Institute case, which clearly said no other person can be chairperson. On the issue of enlargement of the selection panel, it makes sense and I support that amendment. Lastly, the removal of delimitation of boundaries from the Schedule to the substantive Act is a welcome move because it does not make sense to have it as a Schedule. Most importantly, the census follows the delimitation of boundaries because there is no other basis for delimitation of boundaries except via census. I agree with the rest of the amendments except for the term of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."}]}