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{
"id": 2671,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2671/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Samoei",
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"speaker": {
"id": 204,
"legal_name": "William Samoei Ruto",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion. From the start, I want to support this Motion and make it very clear that it is, indeed, in the strategic interests of the Republic of Kenya to have a peaceful and stable Somalia. As they say, it is better late than never. We should have engaged Somalia way back. You will remember that when Siyad Barre was forced out of office more than 20 years ago, the whole world tried to do something. The failure of that effort to save Somalia was because it was fronted by countries and interests that were not regional. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, we have Somalia in the hands of a regional force, under the African Union mandate. The only chance of success in Somalia is when we have a regional force backed by neighbours of Somalia. We have a chance of success because it is in the interests of all the countries surrounding Somalia to sort out the security issues in Somalia. We must engage our security forces in Somalia because, as a country, we are already suffering the effects of terrorism in Somalia. The cost of bringing goods to our country has gone up by 40-50 per cent merely because of insurance; shipping lines have upped their stakes. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary for us, as a country, to sort out the issues in Somalia by contributing in every way, including financially, if the need arises, because we are suffering from the effects of what is going on in Somalia. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, tourism which is actually the sector in which Kenya has a competitive advantage with beaches, wildlife, wildebeest migration and all, is suffering. We have not managed to go beyond 1.5 million tourists in our country. This is majorly contributed to by insecurity. It is obvious that we cannot grow our economy as fast as we want without a sector like tourism in which we have competitive advantage, growing. There is absolutely no reason why Kenya cannot attract 5 million tourists every year. A City like London which has nothing but very old buildings gets 30 million tourists every year. A country like France gets up to 86 million tourists every year. Why can Kenya not get 5 million tourists every year? In any case, scientific evidence indicates that for every extra tourist that we get, three Kenyans get a job. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to persuade this House that it is in the strategic and economic interest of Kenya to have a peaceful region. It is not possible to have a peaceful region if we do not sort out Somalia. Therefore, the request by the Minister of State for Defence for this House to approve that our national defence forces be joined into Somalia under the AMISOM, so that we can effectively deal with the menace that AlShabaab and other terrorist groups have brought to this region, is a very welcome development. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
},
{
"id": 2672,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2672/?format=api",
"text_counter": 363,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Konchella",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 322,
"legal_name": "Gideon Sitelu Konchella",
"slug": "gideon-konchella"
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion requests this Parliament to approve a Motion for our security forces to serve in Somalia under AMISOM."
},
{
"id": 2673,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2673/?format=api",
"text_counter": 364,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Loud consultations)"
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{
"id": 2674,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2674/?format=api",
"text_counter": 365,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Konchella",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 322,
"legal_name": "Gideon Sitelu Konchella",
"slug": "gideon-konchella"
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, protect me from the lound consultations because I want to speak."
},
{
"id": 2675,
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"text_counter": 366,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Deputy Speaker",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Members, consult in low tones. Proceed, Mr. Konchella."
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"id": 2676,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2676/?format=api",
"text_counter": 367,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Konchella",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 322,
"legal_name": "Gideon Sitelu Konchella",
"slug": "gideon-konchella"
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to support this Motion with reservations---"
},
{
"id": 2677,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2677/?format=api",
"text_counter": 368,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ochieng",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 2955,
"legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
"slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
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"content": "On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. We want the Mover to be called to respond."
},
{
"id": 2678,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2678/?format=api",
"text_counter": 369,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Deputy Speaker",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Order! The Chair is convinced that the Members who are present want to be heard. The matter itself is a matter that comes once in a generation."
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{
"id": 2679,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/2679/?format=api",
"text_counter": 370,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Konchella",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 322,
"legal_name": "Gideon Sitelu Konchella",
"slug": "gideon-konchella"
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to support this Motion with reservation. I am glad the two Ministers are here. My reservation is that the broad mission of AMISOM in Somalia has been there for the last four years. Could we have an audit of what they have done to stabilize that country and protect the people of Somalia? By joining AMISOM, we are subjecting our troops to go back to an entity that has no proof of having done anything. I do not think I will agree with that. At the moment, we have our troops trying to stabilize that country. We should not go to keep peace in Somalia. We should go there and create peace. That is what we are doing as far as I am concerned. We have between 500,000 and million Somali refugees in Kenya. We must create a buffer zone for these people to go back home and live in peace and start developing their country. They need to go there and build schools for their children. For us to tell our troops to go there and live in barracks, we will be exposing them to attacks by Al Shabaab militias. Our troops are not lame ducks to go and sit in barracks. If that is the arrangement under AMISOM, I will support this Motion with reservation. I am asking the Ministers that when they discuss the terms of reference for our troops that they agree on the following: 1. We must be in our own zone. If we are occupying the AMISOM zone, it will be in a section for Kenya troops. We have to create peace there. We have to go for Al Shabaab . We have to clean the towns and provide security. We have to build schools, so that Somalis can send their children there. 2. We, as a country, must also be supported to get the people of Somalia back to their country. They are tired of being here. They are intelligent people. They are businessmen. Let us create a zone for them to go and develop their country. That is the only way we can win the hearts of the people of Somalia. That is the only way they can go, develop and stabilize their own country. That should be our mission; not to go under AMISOM, under the command of somebody else who has to wait for orders from the United Nation. All our troops must get orders from Nairobi if they convert to be part of the AMISOM troops. That is why we need our own sector, so that our troops can get orders from Nairobi and be able to carry out operations to stabilize that country. The other issue which I would like to ask the Ministers to do is that as we create our zone, let us develop plans to take the Somali people back home. We can do this by creating a peaceful environment for them to go back. Our intelligence forces should be able to identify the elements who are among the refugees. We want to tell the Somali people who are in Kenya, for goodness sake, that their children are tired of being refugees in other parts of the world. They want to go home. They want to develop their own country. I urge them to identify the people who have been causing problems in this country. Already we have had so many bomb attacks in Garissa and even here in Nairobi. So, what we are asking them is; they should work with our security forces and our own Somali community in Kenya, so that they identify those elements which are causing problems among them, so that they can be dealt with in accordance with the Kenyan law. With those remarks, I want to support."
},
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"id": 2680,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to support very whole heartedly this Motion. Somalia, as all my colleagues who have spoken said, remains a major destabilizing factor in this region. If we are to develop, we must have peace. Right from the word go, when Siyad Barre was overthrown, external forces came into Somalia without strategy or understanding what they came to do. The East African region under IGAD has midwifed peace in Sudan. The East African region under IGAD has midwifed the creation of the TFG in Somalia. This is the only entity that is recognized internationally as a government in Somalia, although it controls very little of the Somali territory. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the AMISOM forces in Somalia today have an authorized strength of 12,000. Burundi and Uganda have put together 9,500. All those troops are in Mogadishu. With the combined effort of the AMISOM forces in Mogadishu and the 8,000 TFG forces they have been able to defeat Al Shabaab and route them out of Mogadishu completely. Now they can consolidate the peace and security of Mogadishu. But Somalia is not Mogadishu and Mogadishu is not Somalia. We must do much more than that. We have as a region asked the United Nations to expand the AMISOM strength from 12,000 to 20,000. That request has been received very positively. The UN has indicated that once we reach the 12,000 strength they have no difficulty in expanding the numbers to 20,000. We, as a region, have indicated to the UN Security Council and they are in agreement that once we get the extra troops beyond what is in Mogadishu today, they should not be deployed to Mogadishu where we have enough troops already doing a good job. Kenya, for example, has liberated up to 130 kilometres of our frontier into Somalia. That area is free of Al Shaabab . It needs a stabilizing force. It needs a peace keeping force. We cannot keep peace where there is no peace. We can only keep peace where there is peace. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is why the UN that started off with what I thought to be a parochial policy of saying that neighbours of Somalia cannot contribute troops to AMISOM, on our representation and advocacy, changed that resolution. The UN has now allowed any neighbour to deploy troops to AMISOM. Djibouti has given a battalion. They are ready and will be deployed on the 16th of this month. Kenya has requested - and it has been agreed by the AU Peace and Security Council - that those troops should not go to Mogadishu. They should come to the liberated areas in southern Somalia. Kenya has offered to contribute - and the Minister of State for Defence, myself and others are discussing to see how strong our force will be in terms of numbers, logistical support required and the area of deployment and command structure--- I agree with those who have contributed, asking that we look for a structure where our troops can enjoy some degree of autonomy in command. That is something that we are going to negotiate and it is not difficult to achieve. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, over and above Kenya’s contribution, it should also be recorded that Uganda has an extra two battalions ready to move into Somalia. Burundi has an extra two battalions ready to move into Somalia. Nigeria has three battalions ready to move into Somalia. Guinea has two battalions ready to move into Somalia. Sierra Leone has a contingent of 500 policemen to come into Somalia to help in civil duties. It should not be lost that Kenya trained policemen for Somalia who are doing a wonderful job today. As I support this Motion, I wish I had time to say more---"
}
]
}