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{
    "id": 1517391,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1517391/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 311,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13217,
        "legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
        "slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
    },
    "content": "If you remember, in 2017, some of us were serving in this house, and some of the NGOs were being accused, allegedly, of financing terrorism in the country. Some of them were being accused of funding destabilisation. You remember, even during the Gen-Z revolution, there were allegations that the George Soros Foundation was financing the revolution under the guise of civic education and awareness. I am happy there is a legal framework to control the type of NGOs that come to the country. Let me go on record crystal clear that we are not objecting that NGOs should not be part and parcel of the civic awareness process. However, we must know who they are and what their intention, purpose and object are. We do not want NGOs to be used to destabilise governments in Africa. Across the world, only the NGOs that bring civic awareness on political and civil issues are heavily financed in Africa. We saw the sad reality of the Gen-Z revolution: in as much as the young people had the right intention to try and fix the problems that we are facing, somebody somewhere, through the NGOs, hijacked the process until they wanted to destabilise the country. I want to challenge the National Intelligence Service (NIS), our security apparatus, that they must vet the NGOs that do civic awareness. The only way we can fix them is to ensure that they are catalogued and know what they are doing. The final part concerns false statements. I agree that fake news must be flagged. I am happy that all social media have been directed to have physical offices in Nairobi or Kenya. When you open Facebook, it has misleading information. The same is true for X, formerly Twitter, TikTok, or any other social media, Instagram, and others you rarely and hardly see. I heard the comments of the Cabinet Secretary for Information Communication and Technology. I am lucky I survived, and I am still a member of the Committee on Information, Communication, and Technology with my sister, Sen. Ogola. Can you believe it is only in Kenya that when you open your social media, you will get pornography being displayed on our social media? However, when you go to countries in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, they have proper regulations and discipline regarding all these social media accounts. It is because we have been given too much freedom that does not have discipline. I want to recommend to Sen. Okenyuri that this offence of false statements and the issue of calling people and telling them lies the way some NGOs are doing in this country. I want to propose that the fine should be Kshs5 million for anybody who spreads false statements. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, imagine if an NGO does civic awareness in Kaplong, and they tell them to hypothetically overthrow the government. Is the side effect not more expensive than the punishment? All NGOs and anybody who does civic awareness on false statements must ensure that there is a punitive fine of Kshs5 million. Alternatively, they should be in jail for ten years."
}