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{
"id": 1349591,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1349591/?format=api",
"text_counter": 645,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13217,
"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
"slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
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"content": "The issue of terrorism is not unique to a tribe, religion or clan. It has shown that it affects all races, all tribes, and all nationalities. Therefore, there is a misnomer in the world that when people come from certain clans, tribes or regions, their affinity to terror- related issues is very high. No! It has been proven that it does not depend on age. I know we had a debate in the morning on classifying Senators as young, old, new or old. It does not care about religion or social status. There was a case, I do not want to mention, of a religious group in this country, where a whole advocate had to sell all the property and give it to the religious leader, which is very unethical. I have seen cases where people give birth to a child and attend a church function with a two-week-old baby. I think you are suspecting the religious leader I am talking about, where you are told that your husband or your wife is the real devil, and you end up breaking down marriages and families. Those are issues that we want to get rid of. Let us get the real teachings of religion, be it Christianity, Islam or others. Kenya is a multi-religious society. We have the Hindus, traditionalists as some of us, Christians, Muslims like my brother, Sen. Chute, and a number of us who are atheists. We have the Atheists Forum of Kenya. They were objecting even us being sworn by the Bible, and many others. I want to quote you, Madam Temporary Speaker, on the statement you made by Karl Marx that “religion is the opium of the masses.” It is true. These are religious leaders saying, “if you bring 500 or coins to my church, I will not touch it.” Are we allowing religion to go rogue? I do not want to go to what had been ruled about in the morning. I disagree with this Committee’s proposal to provide for regulation of religious organizations. It will water down the entire Report. That is why I have quoted Article Eight of the Constitution, 2010 that there is no state religion. Government has no business regulating religious organizations in this country. On this one, I totally disagree. Let the church and religious organizations self- regulate themselves. Secondly, criminal laws are there. I am a lawyer and I am admitted to the Roll of the Advocates. If, today, we violate that Law Society of Kenya (LSK)--- Sen. Mungatana is also a lawyer. When you offend the law, you are not charged because of being a lawyer. You are taken through the criminal procedure. Let the necessary agencies weed out the criminals who are using religion as a shield against and misleading the people. It is as simple as that. If we start regulating the church, we are violating Article Eight of the Constitution. We are infringing on the right to freedom of worship. If we were to do that, it would mean that every individual will ensure--- This recommendation is setting us against religious organizations, which some of us would not be interested to be part of. Let us strengthen the criminal justice system. If you are a pastor and you commit an offence, face the full wrath of the law. We do not need to come and regulate people to force them to believe in their faith. Faith is your personal relationship with your God. I end at that. With that reasoning of regulating religious organizations, I oppose this Report."
}