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{
    "id": 1219735,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1219735/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 86,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "special what - the unit that was a murderous one under the DCI) - there were many people who sought to use that as an opportunity to make politics. I was shocked that there were people saying, “Now you are targeting the people who served in the former regime; you are targeting DCI Kinoti”. What is targeting DCI Kinoti and those who were in office when it was official Government policy to force disappearances of Kenyans, kill Kenyans and dump their bodies in River Yala and Tana River? You remember close to 30 bodies were fished out of River Yala. Another close to 20 bodies were fished from River Tana. Therefore, we cannot say that anybody is being targeted. I know some of them have been invited to the DCI today on small matters. When the time comes, I ask DCI Amin not to fear anybody. Those who sanctioned and commissioned the extra-judicial killings of very many innocent Kenyans must answer. We must be a nation where we do not bury our history in the sand. The only reason things keep repeating themselves and get into a vicious cycle of repeating the same mistakes is that we, as a country, never hold anybody to account. It cannot be that, as this petitioner says, close to 1,200 people have disappeared into thin air and you did not see them rise with the Holy Spirit like Jesus Christ did. They just disappeared. For some, their bodies are found; for others, their bodies are never found. Therefore, we must get to the root of all these. I am glad that, under this regime, none other than His Excellency President William Ruto has asserted that every person who is arrested by a police officer must be presented before a police station, recorded in an Occurrence Book (OB), and charged before a court of law—not killed as was happening before. It is not just cases of terrorism. You know that famous saying that says, we were quiet when they came for journalists because we were not them; when they went for farmers, we were quiet because we were not them until they came for you. That is what happened in this country. We tolerated extra-judicial killings of certain communities in this country on the basis that they were working with terrorists. Eventually, it came to us; it came to our neighbourhoods. I do not think there is any Member of Parliament who—if not in your constituency, then in your county—does not know someone who has been a subject of these enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. As a responsible House and leaders who value the sanctity of life, we must stand up to be counted. I really challenge the Public Petitions Committee to ensure there are legal mechanisms put in place. We should not bury what happened in yesteryears in the sand, that is, whether it was DCI Kinoti in charge of the DCI, Fred Matiang’i as the Cabinet Secretary in charge, or the ultimate authority where the buck stopped—the Office of the President. People who must be held to account for the extra-judicial killings of Kenyans must and should be held to account. This House must rise to the occasion to ensure that that happens by recommending a commission of inquiry."
}