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"content": "Therefore, I want to give a third suggestion here. We must find a mechanism within the Act that will not protect so much those witnesses who are able to get away with crimes which they have committed. For example, we have had this issue of sexual offences being referred to by previous speakers. If a person goes under the witness protection programme, but he has a criminal record and his identity is hidden--- If this law does not provide a mechanism under which we can trace that person, that person will become a danger to the community. So, he will become the joyrider that Mr. Wetangula was talking about. While he is enjoying the benefit of the witness protection programme, he becomes an agent of carrying out further crime against the very society that he is supposed to be helping in arresting suspects of other crime. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want the Attorney-Generalâs office to be ingenious in this matter and think again. How do we capture situations that have presented themselves in other countries that have already run witness programmes for several years and they have these challenges? We also need to look at a fourth suggestion at this stage. Ordinarily, witness protection programmes would involve the transfer of a person from his hometown or village to another place. His identity would be hidden. He will be given a new form of life and maybe moved to another part of Kenya. He is given a new identity card; his records are altered so that he can start a new life. Ordinarily, such a witness is also not allowed to make contact with his hometown or village. He is not allowed to reach those people. If he has to, then even the people that he reaches must apply to be under the witness protection programme. When we have these people transferred to different parts of the country, as in the US and Canadian systems, this person is given a stipend. This person is given some money and maybe a job to keep him going, so that in two or three years he is supposed to be on his feet and earn a living on his own. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to make a suggestion at this Second Reading Stage, that the Attorney-General and his team look for a way in which they can remove a person who does not aggressively look for a system of sustenance. If for example, a person under the witness protection programme comes and is settled in my constituency in Garsen, he is a stranger and he is being paid Kshs20,000; he is not doing anything, but is enjoying State largesse. People can develop hatred for him. So, there must a provision within the Act that will say if someone is not looking for a job aggressively over a period of three years, then he will not continue getting this money for free forever. It is also possible that witnesses can abuse the Witness Protection Fund (WPF) that we want to set up. The provisions we are making here, the Attorney General has sought to make covert operation. This means that there will be a lot of money around. This money is not subject to the normal procurement procedures. There will be no Parliamentary Committee that will check to see what is happening. It is even possible for the people who will be running that WPF, to take their relatives who are jobless. They will ask them to apply as people to benefit from WPF and protect them using State money."
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