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{
    "id": 1143810,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1143810/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
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    "content": "and violence is a mental illness issue. That is why it is very unfortunate when you hear respectable men and women of this society make a joke or political gimmick about issues of suicide and mental health. Ms. Muchiri was able to establish that she is going to help with the pushing of the hiring of professionals in these particular fields. She also convinced us that one of the reasons the police officers had issues of mental health is housing conditions. This is because the people in Government who live in the worst housing conditions are police officers. If you go to some camps and police stations you will find police officers sharing a room yet some of them are married and others have children. It is really a shame that in the year 2022 police officers live in such conditions. As I contribute to this, my clarion call to Members of Parliament is to dedicate part of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) money towards building decent houses and police stations for our officers. I am proud to say that in Molo Constituency we have established around five new police posts, including Migaa, Kapsita, Nyakiambi and Muchorwe. We have also renovated our Elburgon and Molo police stations. This is to ensure that our police officers have a habitable place to live and work in. For as long as they are living in deplorable situations, even the respect that Members of Parliament have for the law enforcement officers will hardly be there. That is probably one of the reasons why when they are in the normal duty of enforcing the law and they find a citizen who has done wrong, the first thing the citizen thinks as a solution is to bribe them. This is because they imagine that these people... Of course, they do not just imagine because they know for a fact that these people are poorly housed, poorly paid and therefore giving them a token would really influence the decision that they make and look the other way even if a person has committed a crime. Hon. Speaker, we also tasked her to ensure that our police officers are properly remunerated. One of the professions in this country that is poorly paid is the police. Last year, we saw a circular that was denying graduate police officers some payment. Along other cadres of Government, an academic qualification warrants an increase in salary where a degree holder should not necessarily be paid the same as a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education certificate holder. A recent move by the National Police Service Commission ought to recognise graduate officers. This has really demoralised police officers. One of my friends keeps joking about them being D- (Minus) material, but these people offer exceptional services to the country. They should be properly housed and remunerated. We also tasked Ms. Muchiri to find where the problem is because the SRC does not just deal in matters of National Police Service Commission but the entire Public Service Commission. For a very long time, there has been a general view that the SRC only looks into salaries of Members of Parliament. When people hear about the SRC, they just think about Members of Parliament and their salaries. We tasked her to look at the mandate of the SRC and clean its image so that issues such as wage sustainability, which is one of the mandates of the Commission, is seen as what they do and not just witch-hunt, especially to some professions like the Members of Parliament. We also tasked her to ensure that the recruitment of police officers is fair. I think one of the jobs that Kenyans apply and perceive that for them to be employed they must give a bribe is that of police officers. Hon. Speaker, we know that she is up to the task. As I conclude, when I saw Ms. Muchiri present herself to us, she did not do so as a woman. She presented herself to us as a professional, that is, someone with experience, educated and up to the task. This calls for all of us to believe that we can have women and young people of calibre The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}