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{
    "id": 106319,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/106319/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 350,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Noor",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 375,
        "legal_name": "Sophia Abdi Noor",
        "slug": "sophia-noor"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also stand to support the Bill. I want to take this opportunity to thank every person who has contributed to this very historical Bill. I want also to congratulate hon. Affey for having the courage to bring this Bill. The colonial Government enacted many laws that specifically targeted the people of northern Kenya. There are specific laws such as the one that created the Northern Frontier Districts of 1902; the present day Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Isiolo, Ijara, Marsabit and Moyale where there were clear restrictions of movement. There were clear restrictions of moving in and out. There was a provision of a special pass. Having this pass was very painful because it clearly indicated there were two sets of Kenyans in this country. We had Kenyans who were free, able to move and their movements were not restricted at all. There was also a class of people who were second class citizens, who were controlled through their movement, settlement and had no freedom of any sort. Then after that, we had the emergency law. The emergency law existed until 1997. That law empowered the President to impose emergency on specific groups of people. This is the discrimination and the marginalization that we were talking about. Whenever the people of northern Kenya talk about the historical injustices, it touches them. They emotionally talk about the discrimination and the marginalization that existed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you remember, under the emergency law, there were concentration camps where people were confined; where women were raped and property was looted by the security personnel. This particular act that hon. Affey is trying to repeal is because of those historical injustices that existed. This is to address those problems that existed within the society. Through these historical injustices, there were a lot of massacres that took place in northern Kenya. There was the massacre in 1967 in Isiolo and other parts of this country where people were put in concentration camps, they were killed and animals looted. There were a lot of problems. In as recent as 1980, there was the Garissa Massacre where people’s houses were burnt by the security personnel of this country. The human rights organisations that have conducted and audited some surveys indicate that there are over 3,000 people who were killed that night in Garissa. Over 5,000 people were displaced because their houses were burnt. The following three days, people were put into concentration camps where they were not allowed to take water and food. In 1984, there was the Wagalla Massacre where over 35,000 people were killed in Wajir. In 1987, there was the Malkamari Massacre. All this was in the spirit of this Indemnity Act. But because of the impunity, and there was something that was going to protect people, they thought that this inhuman exercise should continue. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are many issues including the three mile strip; that is, between the people of Coast Province and the North Eastern Province. This was initiated because the community in North Eastern Province then wanted to secede from this country. Because of that, the colonial Government said that the boundary of North Eastern and Coast Province will be three miles from the Tana River to the interior. The provincial headquarters for North Eastern Province is in Coast Province as I am speaking. That has caused a conflict between communities who have lived together for a long time. There are no developments that can take place along the boundaries of Tana River in North Eastern Province. Those people who want to do some irrigation scheme, along the river go as far as Coast Province to get their title deeds to date, as I"
}