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{
    "id": 1035294,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1035294/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 346,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "are no longer protecting fishermen. Instead, they are the ones who are harassing fishermen. What we are doing here is trying to beef up their capacity, but their capacity is being beefed up to harass fishermen. So, I am not persuaded by this amendment because we are not going to be beefing up their strength when their strength is being used to harass fishermen. As a House, we need to put them on notice because this is a new institution. If they continue that way, the same House that set them up can cause them to disappear. That is because when it comes to the issues of fishermen, we are not going to take them lightly. For some of us, that is the only source of livelihood for our people. At one point, by coincident, I was at Rusinga Island when there was a problem at a beach called Itare. So, I ran over there, and they were saying that they were being harassed by the police from Uganda. I must congratulate the members of the public because they arrested the alleged police officers and I found them when they had brought them to dry land. However, when we assessed the police officers whom they had arrested, they turned out to be Kenyan police officers who were masquerading to be police from Uganda. That was before we brought the Coast Guard. I am told that on the Busia side, they have chased them away. So, we want to tell them that if they are joking, we will chase them from our islands in Suba North the same way they were chased from Busia. We are not going to joke with them. Let them come to protect our people from Tanzanians and Ugandans that are harassing our people. Let them not be part of the problem. Having said that, I wish to abstain from voting either “yes” or “no” because I have not had an opportunity to look at the issues that we have at length. I am concerned because I know we have had time, and you may challenge me that we have had time but, again, going by the multiple roles we play, it becomes challenging when you have too many Bills. I was hoping that we would have time between now and the time it comes to the Committee of the whole House, and I am seeing that we are having the Committee of the whole House immediately. So, I wish to abstain. I will not support giving more powers to the Coast Guard to harass our people. Thank you."
}