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{
    "id": 1055206,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1055206/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 467,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tharaka, DP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. George Gitonga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13491,
        "legal_name": "George Gitonga Murugara",
        "slug": "george-gitonga-murugara"
    },
    "content": "issues because anything that deviates from the normal life especially when someone is under the influence of drugs becomes a security threat, and it needs to be tackled in security parameters. Drugs are a menace in this country. It is vitally important that we have a law that is going to protect our children and citizens against drug abuse. Drugs affect life in different ways. We have seen drug abusers unable to work. They have become junkies who cannot do anything meaningful to earn a living. We have seen drugs raiding into our schools and we had cases of misconduct and cases of breach of discipline surely because of drugs. We also know for sure that there are people who try to earn a living through trading in drugs. These people are known as “mills” or “couriers.” This has grave consequences. As Members of Parliament, quite often we have been called upon to try and help our constituents who are jailed abroad because they have been nabbed with drugs. This is the reason we are saying that this law is timeous. This law should come into force so that we are protected. The law we have before us today provides for very heavy penalties - penalties that are unusual in criminal jurisprudence. In criminal law, it is a cardinal principle that the judge must always have discretion to mete out penalty without any interference from the law. This is the reason in all criminal cases, and in all penalties prescribed, we have maximums. In this law, we have minimums. The idea is to ensure that those penalties deter criminals from committing these offences, whether the criminals are Kenyans or international traffickers. We know very well that there are international elements who have converted our country into a haven of drugs. This is where they do their lucrative business that has made them go up the scales of life at the expense of our children. Therefore, for this very moment, I agree that the penalties stipulated here should be the minimums - minimum jail terms and minimum fines - such that a judge will have no option. In the least of cases, he can only give the minimum. Otherwise, he will be at liberty to give as much as he can under the sun. There is an element of this debate where one would argue that as we make penalties stiffer and thus make this business expensive, we encourage corruption, that dealers in drugs will find it easier to bribe law enforcement officers so that they can get away from the law. That is why we must extend this law to cover corrupt enforcers such that if anyone abets any criminal offence dealing with drugs, he is as good as the drug dealer and he actually faces similar consequences. I also agree that the minimum penalties prescribed for aiders and abetters of crimes in drugs are good and stiff. Importantly, it is high time we safeguarded our country from drug abuse. The drug abuse menace extends everywhere across the country, including the constituencies. I will take the case of my constituency of Tharaka as a rural constituency. It may not be exposed to many of these drugs apart from cannabis, which is a special type of a drug prescribed elsewhere in a different way, but again, this is rampant. I have heard of cases in schools where boys and girls are smoking bhang . This problem needs to be addressed. There are various ways of addressing it. We must move into teaching our children in schools about virtues in respect to not abusing drugs. Our curriculum should provide for such education so that we can teach our children the effects of abusing drugs, alcohol and indulging in vices that can lead to crimes. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, of late, we have seen a surge of indiscipline cases in our schools. So many dormitories and school infrastructural facilities that were built with labour and pain using the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) are going up in flames. About 99 per cent of those infrastructural buildings have been set on fire by students and in many cases, they are not normal, but acting under the influence of drugs. This is how serious the drug menace is in the country."
}