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"id": 107294,
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"content": "Initially, Socrates believed that what the oracle had said was a paradox; he also thought that it was wrong. But as he proceeded to interview the citizens of Athens, he came to the conclusion that the oracle was right. By questioning them, Socrates came to the conclusion that while each man thought he knew a great deal and was very wise, they, in fact, knew very little and were not, really, wise at all. Socrates realized that the oracle was correct in that while the so-called âwise menâ thought themselves wise, yet they were not, he, himself, knew he was not wise at all, which paradoxically made him the wiser one since he was the only one aware of his own ignorance. But as a result, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as you very well know, because I know you have followed this history of Socrates, he was actually found guilty, and was condemned to die. What did Socrates do? He refused to leave Athens and his very good friend tried to persuade him to leave. His friend was called Quito, and I will cite you one of the reasons that Socrates advanced, so that you understand why this country must establish a modern method of looking after witnesses. He said--- This is Socrates to Quito: âHaving knowingly agreed to live under the Cityâs lawsâ, that is Athenâs laws, he implicitly subjected himself to the possibility of being accused, even falsely, of crimes by the citizens of the city, and also to be judged guilty, even wrongly by its jury. To do otherwise would have caused him to break his social contract with the state, and so harm the state and act contrary to its principles. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what am I trying to say? I am saying that so long as this country wants to have the rule of law, law and order; so long as this country wants to be able to fight the crimes that I have described from drugs trafficking to piracy, then the time has come for us to modernize our law on witness protection. There are those who think that this law is directly only related to the International Criminal Court (ICC), or to the Rome Statutes. As far as I am concerned, that is a matter of little consequence, because these crimes occurred in this country for only a period of two months in 2008. But even after the events of the ICC are over, we will still be left with the problem of making sure that witnesses, who have evidence regarding any event that is a violation of Kenyan law, can be protected and, thereafter, be produced in evidence for purposes of ensuring law and order. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 3b of this draft on page 4 says: âThe purpose of the agency is to provide the framework and the procedures for giving special protection, on behalf of the State, to persons in possession of important information and who are facing potential risk or intimidation due to their cooperation with prosecution and other law enforcement agencies.â Secondly, the nature of the special protection referred to in subsection (1) shall entail the power of the agency to acquire, store, maintain and control firearms and ammunition and electronic or other necessary equipment, despite the provisions of any other written law. This law speaks for itself and we have to enact it if we intend to produce a modern State that can move forward. With respect, I would also like to say that the draft we passed last week has a dramatic change from what we have done since Independence. For the first time, the Attorney-General will be one out of the 23 Ministers that the President can appoint outside Parliament. He will no longer enjoy security of tenure the way we have designed the office now. The security of tenure has been transferred to the Director of Public"
}