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{
    "id": 118295,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/118295/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 425,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I, therefore, want to add my voice and say that let everyone in Kenya know that the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC), which is principally dealing with historical injustices cannot be the forum to deal with perpetrators of post-election violence. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission cannot be that forum either. Our courts and criminal justice system has failed to rise to the occasion. I pray that the elected Members of Parliament will hear the cry of the victims for redress and justice; that they will hear the cry of Kenyans that we need to reign on impunity so that we may be able to save our nation. When one looks at what our prospects are and when we do not uphold the rule of law, it means that we disintegrate as a state and you can see the effects of failure to observe the rule of law. The amount of violent crimes; the threats that are being meted on Kenyans daily, including hon. Members like myself and others and the extrajudicial killings. The extrajudicial killings are again a confirmation that the Government adopts violence as a means because instead of combating crime through legal means, they have adopted summary executions as one of their strategies to combat crime; a strategy doomed to fail because with over 2,000 reported deaths, crime should have ceased by now but it is instead increasing. It is a wakeup call for the Government; a wakeup call for Parliament and a wakeup call for Kenyans that they judge the Government and Parliament as an institution by how faithful we remain to our pledges to them of the National Accord. To wind up my contribution, Parliament was quick to embrace and enact, and the Executive as well, the law that brought in the Coalition Government. As politicians, we quickly shared power, continue, as a Government, including the institution of Parliament and earn our pay. However, on the promises for the reforms that make sense and actually improve the lives of ordinary Kenyans, we have been short of delivering. Since we have been blaming the Government, as a Parliament, we now have an opportunity to enact the Local Tribunal Bill to show that unlike the Executive, Parliament is a reform institution. It is a pity that it looks like Parliament is set to fail in this duty and that is why I appeal to my colleagues to come to this Chamber and make their views known on this Bill. If it is clauses in this Bill they do not like or the Bill itself, let them offer safeguards. This Bill is an improvement of the earlier Bill in that it is explicit about the Attorney-General having no role and about the Bill not offering immunity to anybody, including the President and the Prime Minister. However, even though those clauses were missing in the earlier Bill, the Rome Statute does not offer immunity to anyone. It does not even require a parliamentary legislation to exclude that immunity. It is given but this Bill is an improvement in that it explicitly lets hon. Members know the boundary that the law is setting. I see no valid reason for anyone to reject this Bill other than for other motives. If there are good reasons, this is the debating Chamber. Let Members of Parliament and the Executive; those who have been given this opportunity by Kenyans stand here and offer their reasons. Let us not commit suicide as a country by allowing our nation to disintegrate because we legitimise the use of violence as a means."
}