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{
    "id": 1522133,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1522133/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 139,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Many people believe, and rightfully so, that unfortunately, the weakest link is our Judiciary. You listen to them many times asking what they should do if investigators do not take to them watertight cases. Give it to them because it is a sound argument. I also would not wish that we jail people who perhaps have just been tried because of their political choices and so on and so forth. You know for a fact and from history that this country has a culture of using the war against corruption to fight political wars. That cannot be taken away. That is part of the clean-up that we are doing here, including declaration of conflict of interest and trying to tighten the laws on that scope of people. For example, many governors you see being jailed is on account of doing business with their wives, daughters or brothers. It is my hope that with the passage of this particular amended version of the Bill, we will help to conclude that battle. I strongly believe that as a country, we run a very significant risk. The other day the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) released a report. I do not know if colleague Senators took time to listen to the CEO. He said that 45 per cent of our university students use drugs. Just imagine! That is almost 50 per cent, which is almost half of our university and college students. What kind of a country are we talking about here? That is terrible! That is still a subset of corruption because it tells you that there are facilitators or people who allow drugs and narcotics to get into the country. Until we slay this dragon of corruption, that number will continue to increase. It can be your brother, sister, son, or daughter. This should concern us. The Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration, who is my good friend, was among the people who were present when the NACADA was releasing the report. He knows the Bible. I told him that just like Esther, he has been put there at such a time as this. If there is a battle that he must fight with every ounce of energy in him, it is the fight against drugs and narcotics that is permeating into our society and getting into the hands of our young people who are still in high school and colleges and universities. I have no reason to doubt a report of a competent authority such as the NACADA. If it is true that 45 per cent of our students are consuming drugs, it means there is no future for this country. By the time they are graduating, they will have lost it. We must ask ourselves where they are coming from. Remember, Kenya is a land that is surrounded by a good number of failed states, where the governments do not have full control of their regions. There are some regions that have been mentioned. For example, the boarder with Ethiopia is a notorious route that has lots of drugs. Somalia to the north has lawlessness in certain parts that allows drugs to find their way into our country. Once they come, some people even provide protection for them in our colleges and universities, including those whose duty should have otherwise been to ensure that our young people learn in safe spaces."
}