Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1371853,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1371853/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I fully agree with those proposals. However, maybe when we sit down with the Senator, we can enrich it so that there are no legal loopholes in the whole process to allow for escape of a person who refuses to honour the summons of this House. Madam Temporary Speaker, on the question of arrest, there are two forms of arrest provided for by the Criminal Procedure Court, Cap 75 of the Laws of Kenya and Section 58 of the Police Act. We must agree that the powers of arrest under our Constitution are mainly powers of the police. So, every time we are making proposals around the powers of arrest, the police must be involved. There is provision in the Criminal Procedure Court, Cap 75 of the Laws of Kenya that allows a private citizen to effect arrest. However, what does he do with that arrest? The law itself says, as soon as you arrest that person, you hand them over to the police. This again emphasizes the powers of arrest being within the police service. We again need to put some deeper thought to that. My classmate and colleague, Senator for Nyamira County said that even court bailiffs can arrest you after a process of civil litigation. That is correct. However, for the practicality of it, the court bailiff never goes to arrest a civil debtor without going to the police station nearby. In fact, as a matter of fact, they are always accompanied by a police officer. This is because the police officers are the only ones who are allowed to carry guns. So, if you are going to arrest a civil debtor and you find he is armed, as a court bailiff who is not armed in any way, how will you effect the arrest? Madam Temporary Speaker, we are talking about important Government figures who are always guarded by security personnel. How do you send a person from Parliament to go and arrest a person who is guarded by five or six administration police officers? I think we need to give a lot of thought to how we are going to effect this arrest. One proposal that I think makes sense is the one that Sen. Omogeni said. That maybe we could gazette a police station within the Parliamentary precincts. However, it should be subject to the direction of the IG of Police. It cannot be by the Speaker or under the direction of the Clerk. We cannot set up a separate force. When you look at Article 40 of the Constitution, it sets up the National Security Council in Kenya. It has listed all the big people in security and Parliament does not feature there. None of the Speakers sits there. It will not be possible for us to establish this as an independent force or service outside the direction of the IG of Police. I encourage my colleague to think about this more. This is because it is possible to administratively engage with the IG of Police to have a dedicated unit for Parliament. Even the diplomatic service has a unit dedicated to them, but under the direction of the IG of Police. We must be careful when we come to issues that deal with arrest and freedoms of citizens involved as accused persons. We need trained people. The police officers go to school for this work, not even the army. That is why they are given the powers of arrest. If we say we are going to set up our own, I have doubts on how we will do it. However, I believe administratively, it is possible to have a dedicated unit that will actually be used by this Parliament and Parliamentary Committees for both National Assembly and Senate, to effect the process and make our work more effective."
}