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{
    "id": 1098825,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1098825/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 267,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen (Eng.) Hargura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "What Natembeya said actually occurred in Marsabit. There was a day a person was killed in Marsabit and the police officers were telling us that they could not retrieve the body because those who killed were using machine guns, while they have AK-47 and G3 rifles, as Mr. Natembeya said. The worrying thing is when you know we are in that kind of situation and the Government is not addressing the problem of illegal firearms, then this is what happens. The Government has not been providing security to the arid parts of this country. You will find illegal firearms there because people have to arm themselves to protect their lives and livelihoods. The Government says that the practical way to provide security is to recruit National Police Reservists (NPRs) as we used to call them who are within the communities and understand the terrain. They will be living the communities protecting themselves and their livelihoods. The NPRs really helped the affected communities such as Marsabit until sometime a year ago when we were told that the National Security Council decided to withdraw the NPRs. The Government had confessed before that it cannot provide security to all parts of this country and had come up of solutions of involving the citizens in provision of security, which had worked. Then all over sudden, people just decided to withdraw those NPRs and the situation has been getting worse because those with illegal firearms are not disarmed. Now, we disarm the NPRs, exposing those with no illegal firearms to the kind of situation we are seeing in Laikipia. We lost lives and property in Marsabit until the violence came to the town itself. The county headquarters of Marsabit was attacked and houses were burned within a radius of one kilometre from the county headquarters. That is the time the Government came in. It is not practical for the Government to provide security everywhere. However, we have insisted severally to the Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Fred Matiang’i, on the issue of the NPR, which is the best way to contain this kind of violence and insecurity. If there was a problem in how they were recruited before, then they need to be vetted, armed, trained and put under police stations or police posts, so that they are reporting on a daily basis to the police officers and will assist them in provision of security. Nonetheless, that has not been found to be a solution. We do not why we always insist on that every time we got the opportunity and, up to now, that is the situation coming up in Laikipia. When the Regional Commissioner says that we cannot provide security everywhere, it is understandable. However, there is a way of making sure there is security everywhere by arming and training the locals under the NPR system, so that they can protect themselves. We have to address the underlying issues. What are the underling issues? Illegal firearms need to be mopped up. The Government is not investing in that or doing it. In Laikipia, there are historical issues. Pastoralists have been displaced from their grazing areas. Conservationists have taken up thousands of acres of land saying that they are conserving. At the same time, those living in that land have been dispossessed. Those may be dry area fallback grazing areas for those communities. During the dry season, they come back. This conflict only occurs in the dry season because that is their grazing area. They need to be taken into account."
}