Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1263201,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1263201/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 350,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Okiya Omtatah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "because this is not the first time such a thing is happening. Our great grandfathers - and for those of us who are older, our grandfathers - fought in the First World War and the Second World War. Some were killed, some were maimed, some came back without injury, but they had lost their youthful time serving the empire. They were not compensated. They were given meaningless medals to hang on their lapels. This helped some of them to get wives because some people were attracted to the medals. But beyond that, there were no personal benefits to these people and most have died in abject poverty. We saw recently in the United Kingdom, these soldiers from Nepal who fought for the British Empire. Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale could inform me of their name if he knows. They were also having a problem until they confronted the British State. So, this idea of being taken as collateral or things that do not matter is not acceptable. We should not allow what happened to our forefathers who fought for the empire and who were victims of a war that they knew nothing about; wars of white men whom they knew nothing about, and they came back with nothing, and yet those people they fought with and died with were compensated, buried in good graves and they are commemorated. So, beyond this Motion, it should try to lead us towards creating a compensation programme administered by the Attorney General. The other day we were discussing in the Committee where we are, the Victims of Crime Act which has been on the shelf ever since. Maybe we need to look at this. Now that terrorism has become part of our lives, we need to look at a way of coming up with a compensation programme that can be used to compensate beyond the bomb blast victims to also compensate people who are being killed by terrorists. Just the other day, policemen were blown up and they were driving a “light-skin” vehicle. You ask yourself: What happens to the families of the soldiers who are killed? They died serving this country; what happens to their families? They are being killed in Boni Forest on the border by al-Shabaab. So, the time has come for us to come up with a compensation programme, preferably administered by the Attorney General to ensure that victims of people who die serving this country do not lose it all. They lose their lives, but we give something small to their families, at least, to ensure that their children go to school and that their widows or widowers continue having a good life and we have a way of saying thank you for what happened. So, I support this Motion by my friend, Senator Kavindu Muthama, and I beg that we need to pass it. I beg that when it passes, some action be taken to ensure that the victims of the bomb blast, including the little girl who was called Bonita Achola, her father is now retired and an old man, get compensated at least in good time before they get too old to recognize what the compensation is all about. With those few remarks, Madam Temporary Speaker, I support the Motion. I thank you."
}