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{
    "id": 1411103,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1411103/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 102,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Alego Usonga, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Samuel Atandi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Parliament. I was told that the military did them. Even the renovations in State House were done by the military. The military today is part and parcel of our lives. When we look at them, we should not see the ordinary military whose work was to go to war and peacekeeping. We even have better engineers and doctors in the military. As a country, we need to look at the military as that department of Government that can do much more. There is a need for the country to take care of the military more than has happened before. Right now, we have a doctors’ strike. If we had invested more money in training military doctors, they could come in handy especially when there is a strike and disagreements. The military by their training is more disciplined. They are more likely to serve Kenyans than other public institutions. Yesterday, I spoke about what ails the military – corruption. This is a fact. If you look at the way military officers are hired today, it is political and yet, it is supposed to remain apolitical. It is supposed to be an institution that does not serve any political interests. When it comes to hiring, politicians like us run around with recruitment forms, picking people all over and sending them there. We are spoiling a very serious institution that is supposed to serve Kenyans without any political bias. We should not tire to talk about some of these things because we need to ensure that the military remains a serious institution. If you look at countries like Zimbabwe, they respect the military and veterans. I remain a very strong fan of the former President of Zimbabwe, the late Robert Mugabe, who decided that military veterans had to own land. He took land from British settlers and gave it to war veterans in Zimbabwe. As a country, we are not taking care of our military and veterans. We need to do much more than what has been proposed by Hon. Ruweida. We need to find ways in which we can take care of our veterans. We are here and the safety we are enjoying is because there are some people that are thinking about our security. If you look at the kind of things that are happening in Lamu and the Al Shabaab menace, the people taking care of us are the military. Our safety is in those people’s hands. As a Government, we need to do much more and take care of their families. Lastly, the recent accident that claimed the life of the Chief of the Defence Forces and many other officers was very unfortunate. We must say that it was very unfortunate. The incident needs to be investigated so that we are given the reasons why it happened. If that is not done, the incident is likely to taint the image of our military. Our military has been respected in the region. If the CDF can be killed in that manner and thorough investigations are not done to know the reasons why it happened, then we are going to start tainting the image of our respected military. I urge the Government to ensure proper investigations are done and we are given reasons why that incident happened. I also send my condolences to the family of Sergeant Clifford. Two officers from my constituency passed away in that tragedy. One of them is the CDF, whom we have already buried. We are going to bury the next one on Friday, 26th April 2024. That is Sergeant Clifford Omondi. I pass my condolences to his family. Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}