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{
    "id": 1570163,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1570163/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 54,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to comment on the Statement by Sen. Wambua on the resurgence of banditry in Kitui. This is not an isolated incident. There has been an increase in banditry activities. Of course, the more famous ones are the ones happening in the Kerio Valley and the battle that is ongoing there. Now, we hear these reports of what happened in Kitui. Last weekend on the border between Kenya and Tanzania in the Angata Barakoi area where there were difficulties a few weeks ago, a lone gunman attacked citizens who were taking care of their cattle and made away with herds of cattle. This points to a greater problem than just the command of the police service. Mr. Speaker, Sir, you know this is not rocket science. There is a technology to take care of vast areas such as the area that Sen. Wambua is talking about, the Kerio Valley, Angata Barikoi, et cetera, yet as a country, we have continued to underfund our security apparatus. A time has come. I hope that when the Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations takes time to listen to the representation from the Inspector General of Police and the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, we will have a conversation about the need to properly fund our security agencies. We continue to banish them and say that you need to do this or that, but you are as good as the technology that is available to you. This is the only country in the world where we politicise the budget of our security forces. We have seen many times newspapers trying to discuss and dissuade the country from investing and modernising our security systems. We ignorantly do so because unlike the rest of our neighbours and parts of this world that have dealt with insurgents such as this, we have never dealt with serious conflict. Perhaps, we think that it is not important to fund our security systems and modernise the equipment they have. I hope that when this Committee retires to consider this Statement, it will be a wake-up call to us on the need to better equip our security agencies, so as to combat this kind of menace across the country. Thank you."
}