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{
    "id": 1549664,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1549664/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 380,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "justice. The only way the victims will get justice is when those who were running that facility are brought to book, charged before a court of law and sentenced with murder or manslaughter at the very worse since they knew what they were doing and the dangers therein, so that it serves as a lesson. I will repeat this for emphasis’s sake. So long as people know that you live in a country where even if you break the law nothing happens to you, then there is no motivation to respect the rule of law. That is the biggest challenge that we have as a country, the fact that it takes long to conclude even matters that are considered to be serious breaches of the law. This is my last point. Corruption is one of the serious challenges that we continue to speak about year in year out. It is a campaign promise of almost every political party and president who has served this country for as long as I can remember, yet we continue to witness corruption in this country. When the President last addressed Parliament during the State of the Nation Address last year in November, he tabled a proposal which I do not know why it has taken this long. It could be because of our colleagues in the National Assembly. Unfortunately, in the Senate, we do not allocate resources and we have no ways and means through which we can bring it to life for there to be set up a separate division of our courts that can quickly conclude on corruption cases, the same way we they are required to conclude election petitions within six months. Once the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is satisfied that your file has sealed all the loopholes and there is a basis to charge you and you are taken to court, the courts should make a determination within six months. I strongly believe that if we were to start that culture of concluding cases, it will contribute to reduction of corruption cases. So long as people know that the worst that can happen to them is to take plea then they are released and it takes several months before a determination is made on the matter and after that they can move to the High Court, Court of Appeal and all the way to the Supreme Court, people will not respect these laws. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to urge colleagues to take time to read this report and support it. We must still call on the institutions that are charged with the responsibility to bring perpetrators of this extremely heinous act to book and ensure that our 11 fellow citizens who lost their lives and hundreds of others whose lives have been affected in one or the other finally get justice. Most importantly, EPRA should put in place procedures to ensure that that never happens again in the Republic of Kenya. I thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, and beg to second."
}