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{
    "id": 1229462,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1229462/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 206,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Let me support this Report and the adoption of the proposed Treaty. The BATUK has a long history in this country and that is why we famously know them as “Johnnies” when they walk around Nanyuki and everywhere else. This is a tittle they got when they came over during the state of emergency to fight the Mau Mau. Derisively, they used to be called “Johnnies.” It is very important to see the riders that are in this Report – the reservations, for we do not want to have people visiting our country for whatever reason and because of immunities provided by Treaties, they are able to get away scot-free when they commit criminal acts. Treaties are becoming better and better every day, including this one. As a young advocate, I used to represent the BATUK soldiers whenever they committed offences. It used to be the position then that they had to submit to the jurisdiction if we were to try them; and dutifully, the British Army would actually surrender those officers and they would be charged for traffic offences or other minor offences and would be tried. There were instances when they would be shipped out of the country to avoid prosecution, and this was very unwelcome. This is why we have a rider on murder and eventually, we must have a whole clause in the Treaty that all criminal offences must be tried in the host country because that is what the rule of law entails. What was the position before we had these treaties? Let me narrate to this House what happened in the early 80’s when a British Naval Ship landed in Mombasa, and a young British Officer known as Sundstrom engaged a young Kenyan girl called Njeri and went out for a night. What happened is that Sundstrom killed Njeri using broken bottles. The following morning, he was apprehended as the naval ship waited. The net effect was that he was charged in court before a white Judge. The Prosecutor from the Office of the Attorney-General was also a white man. Obviously, Sundstrom was represented by a white criminal lawyer - all of us know Georgeadis. Further, there was a quick plea of bargain and it was changed from murder to manslaughter. The white judge, whose name I withhold, had this to say in his sentence: “While he gave Sundstrom six months suspended sentence, he could not afford to waste an expanse of the life of a young British Soldier in the hands of an African prostitute.”"
}