Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 101830,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/101830/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 318,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kioni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 49,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
        "slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Bill and thank the Minister for finding it timely to bring it to the House. I am certain that if this Bill was introduced in this House a little earlier, many of the crimes and executions that we have witnessed in the past may not have happened. It is a Bill that is going to help the Police Force to track and deal with organised gangs in the country. I am particularly impressed with the way the penalty has been drafted. It is important that we take cognizance of the fact that we have many people who have been crafted into these groups forcefully, some of whom are very young. Some of them were in Standard Eight when they were recruited into these gangs. It is important that the courts are given some leeway to deal with such young offenders or people who may have found themselves in situations they were not quite aware of, or who had no capacity to appreciate the full implication of the same. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, an hon. Member has suggested that penalties should be provided to deal with members of the security agencies who may find it necessary to be part of such gangs when they are supposed to prevent these crimes. That way, we will be able deal with security agents who massively benefit from the proceeds of such crimes. It is important for us to recognise the fact that we have people within the security agencies who only serve to help expand these gangs when they should be fighting them. That is not to say that the police have not done a good job. They have done a good job but, as it has been said many times by the Minister himself, you are always bound to find a rotten potato in a bag of potatoes, and it is important that stiff penalties are provided to deal with officers who go out of their way to do things that are not useful to this nation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, many hon. Members have talked about Clause 7(b). I want to add my voice on this one and say that it is rather too general, and that it is a bit tricky because we have locations which have many gangs. Virtually everybody in such a location could be a gang member. If you find yourself in such a location, that should not make you pay the Kshs1 million fine or get imprisoned for 15 years. Clause 7(d) talks about a person who knowingly associates with members of an organised criminal group. There are areas where I am currently engaged in rehabilitation of people who have been in such groups. It is important that we differentiate these issues, so that you do not find yourself on the wrong side of the law by just having taken a"
}