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"id": 1523332,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Yatta, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Robert Basil",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I do not know why Members are not very much interested to support police officers, considering what they go through and what they do. The Report of the National Dialogue Committee has a lot of interests, particularly with an understanding of the broad-based Government. However, let us focus on the police officers because they play a very significant role. I applaud my brother, Hon. Masara, for bringing the National Police Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, (National Assembly Bill No.23 of 2024). Majority of our police officers are extremely stressed. This emanates from a number of reasons like very poor working conditions. For instance, my brother, who is also our counsel, has mentioned about police officers sharing houses. One family shares a house with other police officers in a very deplorable working environment. This results to stress."
},
{
"id": 1523333,
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"text_counter": 279,
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"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "[The Temporary Speaker (Hon. Farah Maalim) left the Chair]"
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{
"id": 1523334,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "[The Temporary Speaker (Hon. David Ochieng’) took the Chair]"
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"id": 1523335,
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"text_counter": 281,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Yatta, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Robert Basil",
"speaker": null,
"content": "In a small country like Namibia, whose economy is much weaker or smaller compared to Kenya, they remunerate the police officers very well. I was there, when I used to work with the United Nations. I can attest that Namibia police officers are not corruptible because they are remunerated well. We talk of the police officers being corrupt in our country. This is because we have ignored them. We talk of police reforms, but no one seems to pay attention to them. The insurance for our police officers is even more worrying. We have security officers who serve as our guards at our homes, particularly senior Members. When we talk to police officers, we get very very shocking information from them. Imagine your bodyguard takes a family member to a hospital and the insurer he has is dishonoured by the hospital. How do you expect such a person to effectively discharge their duties? These are some of the reasons which contribute to serious stress. We should not cure symptoms without looking at the cause. As much as we come up with programmes to support the psychosocial well-being of our police officers, we must factor in what is contributing to that stress. This is where the whole issue starts from. 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."
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"id": 1523336,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1523336/?format=api",
"text_counter": 282,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Yatta, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Robert Basil",
"speaker": null,
"content": "There is an increased cost of living due to the Finance Bill and new taxes. Everyone is feeling the pinch, but their salaries are at the same level. How do you expect police officers to survive under poor working conditions and pay? This will definitely result to stress. We see some results of stress, where some officers commit suicide. Others shoot their bosses, thus committing crimes, when they are supposed to restore order and peace. This is because of the stress which has built over time. In a nutshell, I recommend that we focus on psychosocial support, and improving salaries and benefits for our security officers and the police officers in that order. We also need to look for better housing and living conditions for our Police Force. Otherwise, we will keep on talking about psychosocial support, without anyone paying attention to the main cause of stress. We also need to restructure working hours. Some of our officers work beyond the stipulated eight working hours. Leave days need to be factored in so that we can mitigate the causes of stress. Thus, we would be able to properly support our officers do the job they are supposed to. Recently, we heard the cries of Generation Z who were complaining of excessive use of force by our police officers, brutality and abductions. You may not know but, perhaps, one of the reasons why police officers use firearms excessively is because of stress. A stressed person may want to discharge or offload the stress by improper use of firearms, thus contributing to police brutality and other vices that are linked to stress management. I recommend that proper stress management training be initiated, and should target police officers across the country. If possible, they can also look at other disciplined forces like those who are working at the borders. With those few remarks, I submit. I am ready to work on amendments to that effect. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
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"id": 1523337,
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"text_counter": 283,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you and well said. The Member for Siaya County, Hon. Ombaka."
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"id": 1523338,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1523338/?format=api",
"text_counter": 284,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Siaya County, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Christine Ombaka",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute. My contribution would be very short through a story. Recently, I was giving out bursaries to students and while doing so, I gave them some inspirational talk. I told them that there are many opportunities in life for those who want to become doctors, pilots and journalists. One student told us that he wanted to be a police officer, but the majority of students laughed."
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"id": 1523339,
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"text_counter": 285,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "(An Hon. Member walked into the Chamber)"
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"text_counter": 286,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " The Member coming in, go back to the Bar, bow and then walk in."
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"id": 1523341,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1523341/?format=api",
"text_counter": 287,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "An Hon. Member",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I bowed, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}
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