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{
"id": 1030641,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1030641/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13131,
"legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
"slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
},
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, we met virtually with the Gov. Lee Kinyanjui, the Governor of Nakuru County, who denied that such an incident occurred despite the fact being on the face of the matter. We made arrangements for a site visit to Nakuru County. We had planned to meet the county commissioner, the county assembly, the Committee in charge of children welfare, the county government and the petitioners. During the Site visit, the County Commissioner informed me that he was new in office and had no information. This is more than a year after. The county assembly and the Governor did not meet the Committee. The governor did not give an apology and we saw him attending a funeral on television. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we visited JOMEC Rehabilitation Centre where the rescued children had been housed and met petitioners, some of the victims and other stakeholders. Mr. Speaker Sir, following the Committee’s engagement with the stakeholders, the petitioner’s prays that the Senate investigates the matters and the following observations were made- (1)The policy approach taken by Nakuru County Government in addressing the plight of street children and families through rounding them up and dumping them in the forest seems to be one that is applied by other counties; Mr. Speaker, Sir, I remember at some point, Sen. Wetangula brought a similar matter of street children being rounded up. They were taken to Bungoma from Eldoret because their noses looked like that of Hon. Lusaka and I. (2) On the night of 6th February, 2019, 41 children were forcefully removed from the streets of Nakuru. They were put in the cell and later on, with the vehicle numbers that we have, taken and dumped in Chemasusu Forest in groups of six and five of them have never been found. (3) Despite the incident of unlawful detention and dumping of the children being reported on Occurrence Book (OB) number, 69/7/2/2019 and subsequent follow ups by the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) officers on the issue, it remains inconclusive; (4) The County Assembly of Nakuru, upon invitation by the Committee, refused to appear. (5) The County Government of Nakuru, also declined to appear before the Committee on Friday, 2nd October, 2020, despite the fact that this was earlier agreed upon with the Committee. They did not give any reason for non-attendance nor sent a representative of the county government despite a formal invitation by the Committee. Mr. Speaker Sir, the petitioner’s prayer is that the Senate investigates the matter and make appropriate recommendations with a view to ensure that the rights and welfare of the children are upheld. Also, that appropriate measures are taken, including necessary policy and legislative interventions to ensure that street children across the country are protected and treated with dignity. The Committee made the following observations - (a)That, both levels of Government have adopted a correctional, reactive, repressive and inhumane institutional approach of addressing the plight of street children and as such, view street children as delinquents and a threat to public order. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}