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{
    "id": 1257911,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1257911/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 32,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I agree with the Leader of the Minority Party; that, it is good for us to conduct ourselves with decorum and allow each other to be heard. As he rightly said, today you may be here celebrating and next time you will be on the other side crying, like he is doing today. Nine months ago, he used to sit where Hon. John Mbadi is seated because he liked that corner. He would be cheering as Hon. John Mbadi celebrated very major atrocities against Kenyans. I cannot stand here to celebrate atrocities against anybody or travesties on the justice of the people of Kenya. As Hon. Opiyo Wandayi has said, Parliament is an open place to the members of the public. However, we live in a civilised democracy and in parliaments all over the world, there are picketing corners. In the Parliament of the Kenya, members of the public are allowed in the Public Gallery and with the Speaker’s permission to the Speaker’s Gallery to watch and follow the proceedings of the House. In an endeavour to have an open Parliament for the welfare of society and the just Government of the people, our debates are televised live by the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit (PBU). This is to ensure that Kenyans, wherever they are, even from the comfort of their homes can follow debate. This does not mean that we live in an island. I think on Thursday or yesterday, the Speaker reminded us about our own safety within the precincts of Parliament and mostly in this Chamber. He reminded us about bombing of Parliaments around the world in Beirut, Lebanon and most recently, in Burkina Faso, where mobs took over Parliament and burnt it. We have seen what those who associate with Opiyo Wandayi, the Leader of the Minority Party, believe to be peaceful protests and demonstrations. Therefore, if the police, in their wisdom, feel it is insecure to allow people who purport to be picketers or peaceful demonstrators around the precincts of Parliament to protect Hon. Opiyo Wandayi, Hon. Mwenje, Hon. Owen Baya and others it is within their right to exclude anybody who they feel is a threat to our national security and security of Members of Parliament, including Hon. Opiyo Wandayi, who must at all times be protected. That is why the Government of Kenya, through the Inspector-General of Police, has provided a minimum of 14 bodyguards for him as the Leader of the Minority Party. Hon. John Mbadi may be unaware that the Leader of the Minority Party is entitled to 14 bodyguards to even guard his residences in the village, Nairobi and elsewhere."
}