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{
    "id": 1092666,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1092666/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 42,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "should just come to the conclusion that this is one of those petitions that the Committee, on the face of it, can write back to the petitioner telling him that this is the kind of a petition that should not be entertained beyond the advice of the Committee. I am saying so because we established the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 with a background of detentions without trials. Today we are in a country where arrests take place on Friday. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you are a victim of that. You were arrested in Nairobi and taken somewhere in Samburu in the name of going to write a statement. What is this madness with police officers arresting public servants or citizens on Friday, particularly when the person being arrested is a political stature like you or any other Senator in this House? If we allow this kind of petitions, the Government of the day may use that window to charge any of us. They can even charge you for murder and say it is because of the seriousness of the offence that you must be held for a month or two. In this country, the criminal justice system has been extremely abused. I agree with Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. that some of the magistrates and courts give ridiculous bail terms. There was one particular magistrate at the Milimani Law Courts who was transferred recently. How can you give someone a bail of Kshs100 million, Kshs70 million, Kshs50 million or Kshs12 million? Why do we have bail in the first place? It is for the suspect to appear in court. If a suspect is a Senator, there is no way that suspect will leave this country because they have interest in matters of governance. It is enough for them to deposit their passport and confirm that they will appear in court at a particular time. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the other day we had the case of Hon. Gachagua. You investigate someone for two years and after that, you arrest him on Friday. You then charge him on Monday with others not before the court. Up to now, you have not even arrested them neither have they written statements. In the last two years, we have witnessed abuse of the criminal justice process to arrest and punish people in the interim. Since you know that they will not be found culpable, the easiest way to punish your enemies is to arrest them on a Friday. If they are public servants in office, you arrest and charge them and ensure the corruption case takes more than two years so that you take advantage of the Anti-Corruption Act and say after two years, that person should leave office. Many people are jobless because of the misuse of the criminal justice system. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I request the Chairperson, Sen. Omogeni that today, it is the ‘hustler nation’ who are being persecuted through this process and the other day it was the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Today, ODM is in Government enjoying the proceeds of the State. Tomorrow, when the ‘hustler nation’ will be in office and yours truly will be sitting on the other side of Government, we want to ensure the law will apply no matter where Murkomen will be today or tomorrow. For that reason, such kinds of Petitions must be dealt with to finality. In future, we must discourage other petitioners from bringing other petitions that ask us to work towards derogation of rights enshrined in Chapter IV of our Constitution. This House should ensure we ban Friday arrests. By law, we should come up with a legal framework that stops Friday arrests, unless you are being arrested for an offence"
}