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{
    "id": 1421022,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1421022/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 212,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we had a similar case on the Southern Bypass, where they just woke up one day and put road bumps and the drivers, because they were not acclimatized--- If you know the bump that I am speaking about in Haile Selassie Avenue, it is not your normal-sized bump. Some of the decisions that are being taken by the road authorities may be contributing to the accidents that we are seeing in the country that could be preventable. On that note, allow me also to pass my condolences to the students of Kenyatta University following that accident. Finally, on this freedom of speech, I am beginning to like this House. Ever since last week, the vote that was taken involving the matter from Kisii County, I am starting to like this House. I have argued repeatedly that there is something called an objective truth. People in opposition know that the sun rises from the east, and that should also be true for the people who support the Government and who are elected from the Government coalition. So, I like it when I hear Sen. Joe Nyutu speaking as passionately as he has this afternoon about freedom of speech. Let me just say that, today, together with the Senator for Vihiga County, I attended the funeral service of Dr. Chakava, who is a foremost publisher, and one of the people who founded the East African Publishers. In his eulogy, they told us that this was a person who dared to publish things in that era, where a publication of things against the Government could attract the death penalty. Dr. Chakava was publishing books by people like Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, at a time when we had sedition on our books; at a time when subversion was still a crime in this country. We were told in his story that one day he was followed by goons, presumably sent by the Government. They beat him up very badly and cut off one of his fingers. This is something that was happening way back in the 1970s and 1980s when we were under one-party rule. We will never allow ourselves to go back to that particular period in time. I have loved hearing the Senator for Kirinyaga County saying that people who put themselves in public spaces must grow a thick skin. That is exactly what I was trying to say yesterday, even in this House. People who have had experience in politics of the type of the President, the President does not need to be protected from hecklers. So, when I see the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration, instead of looking for the people who killed Mr. Sniper in Meru County, he is going to look for the people who heckled the President in Bomet County--- My reading and understanding of Article 33 of the Constitution puts only three limitations on the freedom of speech, and I can read them out here for the record:"
}