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{
    "id": 1229428,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1229428/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 172,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Belgut, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Nelson Koech",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "There is also protection of the environment that has been captured very well in this agreement. There is military medical services including research and development, military sports, disaster relief and humanitarian operation by the armed forces. You remember the child and the mother who drowned in water when we had the ferry disaster a while back. It will be important for this country and the honourable House to understand that the first line of call during such emergencies is normally the military. This training has been advanced. Initially, the divers would go up to 100 meters I am told. Right now, we have divers who can go up to one kilometre under the sea because of such training that we continue to advance between Kenya, the United Kingdom and other countries with which we enter into defence co-operation agreements. As I pointed out earlier, there is also counter-terrorism, the defence and civilian component, exchange visits of military personnel, and mapping, surveying and exchange of geographic materials and other mutual interests in the future. Article six of the agreement describes the legal status of visiting forces. The draft agreement subjects visiting forces to the laws of host nations. When I say the laws of the host nation in my initial statement, you realise I said we have included murder. That is so that there is no runaway murder for as long as you are in the jurisdiction of a country. One must be put on trial by that state, and not repatriating their officers to be tried elsewhere where families like Agnes Wanjiru’s cannot afford to seek that trial and participate in it. In this agreement, we have allowed that such offences must be tried within the jurisdiction of the host nation - that is Kenya. Article 24 of the agreement establishes the inter-governmental liaison committee comprising the representatives of the Republic of Kenya and the United Kingdom of the Great Britain and the Northern Ireland to oversee the implementation of the agreement. The inter- governmental liaison committee is also empowered to administer and implement the agreement, and to settle all the disputes and the many misunderstandings arising from the implementation of this agreement. In considering the agreement, the Committee held a total of 11 sittings. The sittings were with the Ministry of Defence and other stakeholders. Pursuant to Article 118(b) of the Constitution on public participation and Section 8(3) of the Treaty Making and Ratification Act 2012, the Committee placed advertisements in two local dailies on 20th October 2021. They called for submission of memoranda on the subject matter. By the close of the deadline, the Committee had not received any memoranda for or against the ratification of the agreement. However, the Committee received the submissions of the County Government of Laikipia on 31st March 2022, long after the close of the deadline. Nonetheless, we still looked at them and considered them in our Report. That has been sufficiently addressed in this Report from the Committee. The Memorandum of the County Government of Laikipia raises concerns over the claims of deaths, injuries and forms of suffering arising from the activities related to the BATUK. The memo further avers that no form of compensation has been forthcoming to settle the claims. Defence agreements are important to the country. Among other things, they enable knowledge transfer, capacity building and sharing of information in an increasingly complex global environment. Having processed the agreement, the Committee observed that the existing agreement has multilateral and bilateral agreements with other State agencies. The country stood to benefit from the expertise held by the counterpart State. The Committee observed that training by BATUK failed to adhere to Kenyan laws and obligations under international law with respect to preservation of the environment pursuant to Article 8 of the Agreement. This is largely because of the earlier defence agreements. We have made it very clear that, as they train, there should not be any environmental degradation. In fact, they will take responsibility if there was going to be any degradation happening going"
}