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"speaker_name": "Hon. Kipchumba Murkomen",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration",
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"content": "certain period that can be established. Again, that will also apply to the chiefs once we decide who will be licensed gun carriers. In any case, other civilians carry guns. Therefore, that is not unique, including Members of Parliament who have been licensed to carry a firearm. It is not unique to say a chief is licenced to carry a firearm. Hon. Speaker, Hon. Nicholas Ng’ikor Ngikolong asked a question about Special Forces to fight banditry. If we were to create a special force to deal with banditry or cattle rustling, which affects more than half of the country, and as you all know, from Lamu to Endebess, that is more than half of the nation, in terms of land size, what would the police be doing? We already have other special forces like the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU). We have the GSU and all these formations. We should spend our time now to resource the police. I request that we continue supporting the National Police Service in their modernisation programme. What was done in the last one and a half years is modernisation; that is, getting the Mine Resistance Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and giving them protective gear, which has borne results. This plan is to go on for four years. In this financial year, because of financial constraints, that plan has slowed. I request that we support the plan to resource the police officers. As I promised, we will also use modern technology, particularly drones, which will help us in surveillance and answer Hon. Makilap’s questions about what else we can do in the affected areas like Loruk and other places. If we can enhance surveillance by using drones, we will use fewer police officers but greater response when technology is applied. Hon. Speaker, Hon. Naisula asked why we cannot prioritise the Question of security considerations when operationalising these administrative units. Again, as I said, that is our number one consideration. Considering what is going on in Samburu at the moment, our number one priority is to do as much as we can to bring the Government closer to the people. That should be done as well for Tiaty Constituency to ensure that the Government is closer to the source of some of the banditry in Samburu, Tiaty, Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, and other parts. Hon. Cherorot mentioned something very important here. Very few people know that there is an administrative structure in the counties. You know this very well, Hon. Speaker, because we drafted this law while we were in the Senate to create Village Councils for the counties. As a result of that law, very few counties have operationalised the Village Council. It is only Samburu that has it. In the National Government, we are trying to propose the village elders and see how they can work together with the administrative units. At the same time, there are the village councils in county governments. Because of resource constraints, counties are unable to create the village council because there are more than ten people who are called to establish it. During the process of looking at these village elders issues, it needs to be harmonised. That law, together with the village elders' issue, needs to be harmonised so that we can benefit from the resource. It also needs to be harmonised with the Nyumba Kumi strategy so that we know where the village elder would be in the structure and that this can work properly to provide resources. Hon. Speaker, I also look forward to all of us providing this solution both in terms of our friend, the late Hon. Malulu Injendi's proposal, which Members of this House shall progress the way you will guide. We are also working on the regulations. We are still working on the rest of the administrative units to see if that can be achieved. This covers the same Question by Hon. Umulkher Mohamed on the National Police Reservist (NPR) attack. Criminals from neighbouring countries target the NPR because of the guns and ammunition. They know that the NPR has been instrumental in dealing with crime and know their local routes. Unfortunately, our NPR were attacked during this period. These terrorist groups operate by looking for a significant period for them to do something significant. There was heightened activity around Ramadhan because intelligence reports were already there indicating that they wanted to take advantage of that period. We are The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}