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"id": 1424173,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1424173/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
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"id": 13589,
"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. We want to thank the House for allowing the Ad hoc Committee to resolve issues affecting Kenyans. This is a matter that has been pending before the courts of the United States of America (USA), and the House of Parliament for many years. When this Committee was set up, it met most victims, and most of them were orphaned children, and the widowed. People have lost their parents, husbands, or wives in this process. This is something Kenyans who were old enough by 1998, 25 years ago, know and remember very well. The biggest challenge for these people is that some are going through medical treatment, and some were flown to the USA for medical treatment. They formed groups and had leadership, so that they could use that to make their claims. Notable was the late Hon. Kamotho’s driver who was on duty and had left his family early in the morning. He had left with little children who were three years old. When this bombing happened, he died there and up to today, his children are waiting for justice. We hope that they, together with many others, will get justice through this House and the Senate and the Congress in America. Mr. Speaker, what is needed in this particular one is for an amendment to be made in the USA law to include Kenya as one of the states that can be compensated. They need to be compensated from a victim's fund, which is set up by the Ministry of Justice, and which has monies collected from defeated Al Qaeda networks, including frozen accounts in America. Therefore, the money for compensation is available. For the Kenyans who went for treatment in the USA and those who went to court in the USA, there was a very big challenge as to whether a Kenyan national could sue Al Qaeda on the USA soil. It took 10 years and was rejected at the equivalent of the High Court. It then went to the Supreme Court, and at the same time, coincidentally, the then ambassador to Kenya, Hon. Prudence Bushnell, had written a book that detailed some of the activities. This provided evidence sufficient enough to allow the Supreme Court of the USA to allow Kenyans to sue Al Qaeda on Kenyan soil. For that matter, over 3, 000 suits have gone through, and are awaiting this amendment, so that they can be compensated. That particular law has a form for the other Kenyans who can be verified that they were in this unfortunate incident, either dead or injured. Many of these people are alive, going through medication for the last 25 years and going through hospital operations on their own bill. They also go through the removal of glasses from their body, which is done in stages because some of it is stuck in the brains. Most of them live uncertain lives. We met all of them in this Senate and promised to help them. What is very important now is this amendment to go to the USA. The Chief Cabinet Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}