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{
    "id": 1443355,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1443355/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 125,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13589,
        "legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
        "slug": "maanzo-daniel-kitonga"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. I want to thank the two leaders of the House for coming up with this Motion and for summarising it very well. What happened on 25th of last month was unprecedented in this country. The young people went to demonstrate peacefully, but the moment there were peaceful demonstrations, the police thought that they should be dispersed. The Public Order Act and its regulations thereunder, which are 20 years old and the last ones which were done by former Attorney-General, Hon. Amos Wako and other consequent Ministers were not followed. Even with those old regulations, the Public Order Act and the Penal Code, there has to be a proclamation made loud and clear in a speaker by the escorting police who has to be of the level of an Inspector-General, that the peaceful demonstrations have turned into riots and therefore people must disperse. After 15 minutes that proclamation order is supposed to be repeated and whoever does not disperse then, action can be taken against them. What I expected the police to do was to guard businesses and let the demonstrators do their thing. I believe no one would have died. Unfortunately, we have lost 41 people and quite a number of people are in hospitals. In Makueni we are burying four people. We buried one last Saturday and another one is being buried today. There is a funeral next Friday of a young man who was shot by an OCS and on Saturday there is another one. We have people who are still missing and their whereabouts are unknown. My condolences to the families who have lost their dear ones. I am also wishing quick recovery to those who are in the hospitals with all manner of injuries, from head injuries to bullet wounds. I want to say that although the President has promised to bury the deceased, we already buried Rex last Friday in Machakos. He was a young man who was going to work, but because he happened to have rastas and passed near the crowds, a police officer decided to shoot him. After shooting him, the young people cried that he should be helped and taken to hospital. They even wanted to help the police with their doctors, but the policeman who is very well known and has not been charged so far said “Let the young man die.”Therefore, they watched him bleed to death yet he only had leg injuries and his life would have been salvaged. There is no compensation yet or reprieve. No one has been taken to court, sacked or any action taken with regard to that death. I am sure the Gen Z are watching and this is one of the issues they want to deal with as time goes by. The cause of this was the Finance Bill. Public participation regarding the Finance Bill took place and I remember at the KICC, Kenyans really pleaded with the State and with Parliament. A long time ago, during the days of the late President Moi, the Minister for Finance after reading the Budget Speech, the next day you would hear the price list given for beer and so on. That does not happen today. The Finance Bill is designed at the Treasury with experts, some from international organisations which fund us. It then goes to the Cabinet, comes to the House and then the House goes to do public participation. Unfortunately, very little input from the people was adopted and very little has been adopted over the years. 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."
}