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{
    "id": 1279600,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1279600/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 45,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Turkana County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Cecilia A. Ngitit",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "times we have tabled adjournment Motions in this House, I have always brought out the uniqueness of Turkana County. It is the only county in Kenya that borders three countries. Let me repeat: Turkana County borders South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Surprisingly, in those three countries, we have people who speak the same language with us. In Ethiopia, we have the Donyiro people with whom we speak the same language without the requirement of a translator between us. We speak the same language with the Toposa in South Sudan. In Uganda, we speak the same language with the Karamojong. The pastoralist lifestyle is very funny. Our cattle do not know boundaries. Even our pastoralists do not know boundaries. Turkana County is known for drought. When there is drought, our people will move in search of pasture and water. That is how they find themselves in Uganda. Some are in Ethiopia and others in South Sudan. Many inhumane and international humiliations have been reported during the many years they have resided in Uganda. They are meted on them by the military of Uganda. In this case, the 41 Turkana have been subjected to that court martial process for over two months now. Even our Head of State is aware of this matter and he has done some action. He wrote a letter to the neighbouring country. I do not know why nothing has been done so far. Therefore, we beseech the Committee in charge of this matter to speed up this investigation and come up with the correct measures that will help our people get out of that court martial. Apart from the court martial, our people lose many livestock to neighbouring countries. At times they even give livestock in exchange for pasture and water. We have pasture in Turkana. We only lack water. We plead with our Government to build mega dams in some areas. We can direct them where these mega dams can be located then our people will not be crossing borders. As Hon. Ngikolong is putting it, our numbers are shrinking because our people have gone to neighbouring countries in search of pasture. In fact, we are in huge numbers in Uganda. Over 50,000 Turkana stay in Uganda. They are adults without identification cards. As he has correctly put it, we have been manning those boundaries without Government presence. It is high time the Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations and the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Affairs did their work. We need the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) deployed along those boundaries so that our people can rest. We have manned Kenyan boundaries for many years. For that case, we might even need some compensation. Thank you, Hon. Speaker."
}