{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=147657","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=147655","results":[{"id":1494752,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494752/?format=json","text_counter":469,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Osotsi","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13588,"legal_name":"Osotsi Godfrey Otieno","slug":"osotsi-godfrey-otieno"},"content":"It goes on under Section 46, which has also been repealed, to deal with all the conditions of recall under Section 45 and 46. Clause 28, seeks to repeal Section 74 of the Act, to provide that disputes during nomination will be the mandate of political parties' tribunal and not IEBC. During the elections we have seen that on one hand, the tribunal is dealing with matters of dispute in political parties. On the other hand, IEBC is doing the same. That is not the work of IEBC. This amendment will ensure that only political parties' tribunal will handle disputes between a candidate and his party or between political parties and not IEBC. The IEBC role is misplaced and that amendment heals that. Clause 29 amends Section 75, to provide that the Election Petition will terminate at the High Court for county assemblies. We should not have a scenario where, the Election Petition for a Member of County Assembly (MCA), is taken all the way to the Supreme Court. This law now provides that the case will terminate at the High Court. The same applies to Section 85A, which is amended under Clause 32 to provide that the Petition for MPs, Senators and Governors will terminate at the Court of Appeal. This is to enable the Supreme Court to perform the role that the drafters of the Constitution envisage them to do on specific things and not dealing with the election matters. Clause 31 which also amends Section 82 of the Principle Act provides that - “access to information upon a request to IEBC shall be granted within three days for Presidential Election and seven days for other positions.” Since the Presidential Election has to be done within a limited time, three days is a long period of time. This should be reduced to one day considering the time constraint in Presidential Elections. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Clause 32 seeks to amend Section 85(a) of the principle Act on the courts’ decision of petition for Members of Parliament and I had talked about that. Clause 33, amends Section 87 to provide for the setting up of an independent firm approved by Parliament to evaluate elections and a host of other things, including, reviewing the legal framework, the register of voters, the role of the media and the voter counting procedures. This has to be done within one year after elections. These are progressive amendments and they will cure many of the challenges we are going through. Elections are very important and I hope that this Bill will help us deal with the electoral challenges we have been having in this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I will go back to the IEBC issue in order to address the courts. The courts have every right to receive and process cases but they should also listen to what is happening outside the courts. They should take judicial notice of what is happening outside the courts. This country will be in a crisis if there will be need to have the IEBC and yet, there is none. We will have a major constitutional crisis. I, therefore, call upon the courts to help us expedite the setting up of our selection committee so that we can appoint the due commissioners who can conduct by-elections and prepare for elections. We are just about two years and a few months to the next general elections and we do not have an IEBC in place. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, remember the Kriegler Report said that all preparations to elections must be completed at least two years before elections. We do not even have an IEBC, and yet, we have not even started. Therefore, this is a very serious The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."},{"id":1494753,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494753/?format=json","text_counter":470,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Osotsi","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":13588,"legal_name":"Osotsi Godfrey Otieno","slug":"osotsi-godfrey-otieno"},"content":"problem. There is also the cost of elections which must be looked at and the matter of transparency in elections. I support this Bill except for the declaration of the results by the IEBC Chairperson. I believe that if we want to heal the problem of the Cherera 4, we must insist that the declaration of results by the IEBC Chairperson must be after concurrence with the other commissioners."},{"id":1494754,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494754/?format=json","text_counter":471,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Abdul Haji","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Senator. Sen. (Dr.) Boni Khalwale."},{"id":1494755,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494755/?format=json","text_counter":472,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":170,"legal_name":"Bonny Khalwale","slug":"bonny-khalwale"},"content":"Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I strongly support this Bill, but with little tweaks here and there. However, I am surprised that Sen. Cherarkey and Sen. Osotsi, Members of this House whom I believe are seasoned and give serious thought to legislation, are complaining that our elections are too expensive. If you think democracy is expensive, please go and try dictatorship or military rule. You will know the difference. I say this with maximum respect because I know that for Cherarkey, when the country went burst in 2007 because of flaws in the electoral process, he was probably in kindergarten. He, therefore, has no idea how your father, who was a senior Member of the House, fought hard to keep the country together. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I would like to say that our process that looks expensive is because we are way ahead of many other countries in the world. They will play catch up and start doing what we are doing today. I, therefore, want to thank the members of NADCO for this particular process that informed this Bill. I strongly believe that election laws should be reviewed regularly as a practice at the end of every electoral cycle because there are lessons that we learn from every election, that invite an opportunity for us to make the process better. We should, therefore, not get tired of reviewing our election laws over and over again. It is agreed that an election starts and must end at a polling station. This was not only the intention of the Constitution, but it was also confirmed by the decision of the High Court, which has guided many petitions in this country, especially those of presidential elections. I, therefore, want to add my voice to this law that is now making it clearer that elections will start and end at a polling station. Colleagues, let me tell you about the figure 500. If you are to take a count of 1 up to 500 and you are counting pieces of paper, 1, 2, 3, up to 500, it cannot take an hour. It is within that one hour that you can sort out the votes. For example, it can be said that Sen. Abdul got this and his opponent got this. After sorting, you can then count 1 to 500 and get the result in a polling station. From that, you can know what the Senator for Wajir County got vis-à-vis his opponent. We should defeat the corruption that accompanies the voting process that leads to delay. In a place like Kisumu, the distinguished professor had to wait for three days before he could know his fate. I will tell you what annoys me based on my own experience. We have counting and tallying centre, and I usually know the results because I get feedback from my counting agents in every polling station. After knowing the results by around midnight, I am forced to stay for three days for the Returning Officer to announce what I The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."},{"id":1494756,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494756/?format=json","text_counter":473,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":170,"legal_name":"Bonny Khalwale","slug":"bonny-khalwale"},"content":"already know. We should make this the practice. I am happy that they have now put in the timelines and the results have to be announced within two hours. We should insist further on this because the people who want to manipulate the electoral process usually count on our agents, at polling stations, becoming fatigued. How do you expect somebody to sit in the counting hall or tallying hall for three days non-stop and still be alert to guard against rigging? I wanted to speak at length on this issue, but because of the request from the distinguished Senator from Nairobi City County, Sen. Tabitha Mutinda, I want to vacate my contribution earlier, so that she can have an opportunity to speak. I want to request her to allow me to speak so that I am stopped 25 minutes past. Can the clerks-at-the-table stop me 25 minutes past, for me to allow Sen. Tabitha Mutinda to do her bit?"},{"id":1494757,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494757/?format=json","text_counter":474,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Abdul Haji","speaker_title":"Then Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Hon. Senator, I have no problem with you spending less time than you are allocated. However, the procedure in the House is that after you speak, I have to give an opportunity to the other side."},{"id":1494758,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494758/?format=json","text_counter":475,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":170,"legal_name":"Bonny Khalwale","slug":"bonny-khalwale"},"content":"Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I should gift Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda. I want to appeal to Sen. Tabitha Mutinda to accept that because we are very proud of the professor. Professor, the work you did in court was a study in the practice of law. There are jibes that you threw. Two young lawyers in my family, that is my daughter Vivian and my son Sonista, were very happy because of how you conducted yourself in court. Of course, you brought us the right to recite. Congratulations. I want to speak to the problem of nominations. As stated earlier by my colleagues, nominations must cease being the decision of political party leaders. Members of political parties must vote to decide on the party list, so that, for example, after members of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party have voted on names of all the people who want to be nominated Senators, women who get the highest number of votes should be put on the party list in the order of the number of votes they got, so that it is not the decision of the political party leader. You can see the misguided contribution of the Senator for Nandi, suggesting that party leaders conduct nominations from hotel rooms. I am surprised that he was not forced to apologise and withdraw. We have Distinguished Senators here. They include people like Sen. Beatrice Ogola and Sen. Tabitha Mutinda who have families. What message are we sending to their families that they were nominated from hotel rooms? Shame on Sen. Cherarkey! He even imputed further improper motives on male Senators like Sen. Chimera. Is he suggesting that they or their party leaders are homosexuals? It is unbelievable that we can degenerate to that level. I have said it before, and I want to repeat. Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) should vote to decide who should represent them and not the decision of political party leaders. I also believe that we should continue amending the laws to ensure that women representatives are elected not universally in the county, but by fellow women because it is only women who know the best women who should represent them. If they do not want them to be women representatives, then we should amend the Constitution not to call them The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."},{"id":1494759,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494759/?format=json","text_counter":476,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":170,"legal_name":"Bonny Khalwale","slug":"bonny-khalwale"},"content":"as such. However, since they are referred to as women representatives by the Constitution, they should be elected by the people they represent; the women. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, having said that, I now want to give way for our good professor to inform us about his thoughts on this law. I support."},{"id":1494760,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494760/?format=json","text_counter":477,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Abdul Haji","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Senator. Sen. (Prof.) Tom Ojienda, you have the Floor."},{"id":1494761,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1494761/?format=json","text_counter":478,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Prof.) Tom Odhiambo Ojienda, SC","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I will take a limited time to contribute to the Elections (Amendment) (No.2) Bill (Senate Bills No.29 of 2024), which seeks to amend various provisions of the Elections Act. I agree with Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale on the timeous nature of this amendment Bill, especially on the need to continually amend the Elections Act for two reasons. Firstly, tallying at the polling stations has been the subject of various election petitions. There is the time question that Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale has dealt with. That is about filling and signing of Forms 34A, B and C; Forms 35 and 37 for governors; Forms 38 for Senators; and Forms 39 for women representatives. All those speak to necessary timeframes. Elections must and should be concluded at polling stations. The issue of nominations has been sticky, with political parties, party leaders and perhaps technocrats having nominations for individuals from outside specific counties and constituencies. I am glad that this Bill seeks to rectify that anomaly. If you are not a registered voter in a particular area, you will not be eligible for nomination. This question of importation must end. I laud that amendment because it seeks to cure that anomaly. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have litigated many election anomalies. This Bill is timeous because it comes to cure some of the problems that we have had in the process of conducting elections like time delays and possibilities of rigging elections. I must also laud the timeframe for registration of voters and the need for IEBC to continue registering voters. However, we must speak to the need of filling the slots of Commissioners of IEBC available that have not been filled. This is because of the continuous manner in which the IEBC operates and the need for elections every other time. There is need to urgently ensure that the IEBC is fully constituted. I hope that our principals and players in the legislative sector and those responsible will ensure that this process is concluded. This will enable those court cases to be concluded so that we have a fully operational IEBC. I thank you. I support the Bill."}]}