Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 500549,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/500549/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 443,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "In this country, we have had many cases of people being detained without having proper investigations. Research has shown that almost 50 per cent of the people behind bars are there not because they are guilty, but because of poor investigations; this goes to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID). This Parliament has allocated a lot of funds to DPP so that he can hire competent lawyers who can do investigations. When you look at examples of other jurisdictions like England, there is habeas corpus, an Act of Parliament which was put in place in the year 1679 during the reign of King Charles. I have gone through this and, maybe, when it comes to the Committee of the whole House, we need to bring more amendments so that this particular aspect of habeas corpus can be detailed. That is because in this country, many people are suffering. Others have been condemned to hang just because of poor investigations. It is important that once you put this legislation in place, at least, for those people who have been doing poor investigations, their days are numbered. Secondly, I also want to mention briefly about Article 29(f) of the Constitution, which says that a person who has been arrested does not forfeit his fundamental rights. They must be treated well and not punished in a cruel or inhuman manner. It was just last week when hon. Sudi, at Kapseret in Uasin-Gishu, was mishandled by police officers. This is a former Member of Parliament. So, this law is long overdue. It is a warning to the police. They must handle people with dignity. If a Member of Parliament can be handled in the manner that we saw hon. Sudi being handled, what about a common mwanachi ? The Bill is long overdue. When you go to Tanzania, I am told that a policeman will come and tell you:- “ Nakuomba tuambatane tuende katikakituo cha sheria” . But what happens in this country? Beba ! They want to search you all over, even in your private parts which, in my community, are only supposed to be accessed by your better-half. We must bring this law into action. The police must listen. We are not going to allow this to happen anymore. It is a big problem. The hon. Member for Narok, hon. ole Ntutu, mentioned something to the effect that a president was conceived in a prison. I do not know what the implication was. When you look at the rights of prisoners, I do not see anywhere where conjugal rights are allowed. But, maybe, going by the Member’s theory, in future, we can see how conjugal rights can be guaranteed. The former Vice-President, hon. Uncle Moody Awori, brought a lot of reforms in the Prisons Department and yet, we had no law in place. I want to salute him for that. We remember the “Moody Hoppers”. Prisoners were brought to court in those nice couches, which were brought in through the reforms by the former Vice-President, hon. Moody Awori. I want to salute him wherever he is. Prisoners now watch television. One of the critical rights in line with Article 35 of the Constitution is access to information. Prisoners must access information. We must have televisions and newspapers for prisoners. They should access information to know what is going on and which information is being held by the State. Indeed, it is very critical.They must access education. We have seen them performing well in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination (KCPE) and in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE). A prison is supposed to be a corrective centre. It should not be a centre to harden the criminals such that when they come back to the society, they are incompatible. I 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."
}