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{
    "id": 16548,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/16548/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 428,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Konchella",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 322,
        "legal_name": "Gideon Sitelu Konchella",
        "slug": "gideon-konchella"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to also add my voice to this problem of Somalia. Let me start by thanking the Committee for the Report that is quite good. Let me start by sending my own personal condolences to the soldiers who perished the other day because of a helicopter crash when they were defending the country and trying to stabilize that nation of Somalia. I want to support the Government and encourage it for the bold decision they have taken to address this matter. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it has taken us so many years as a nation to wake up. We have watched Somalia deteriorate. We have watched this country going down the drain. We have watched everybody running out of Somalia. We have watched the buildup of refugees in Daadab and other places. These people have now overflowed into the country and now they are everywhere in Kenya. They are doing whatever is possible to ensure their own survival by acquiring Kenyan identification documents. Most of them are now Kenyan citizens. I think we as a nation must be able to secure the security of this country. We can only do so, if the Government is serious about protecting the future of Kenya. The only way I can see the security of this country being enhanced is to address the issue of Somalia. I want to also encourage the Somalis who have come to Kenya because they live almost everywhere in our constituencies. They are peaceful people. However, there are a few elements who are now undertaking poaching; they are killing wildlife. There is that matter with the Mara Game Reserve. We are addressing the matter and telling them: Please, let us live in peace and co-existence because our wildlife and our tourism is the mainstay of Kenya’s economy. To allow people then to come because they have no education and they are poor, and allow them to use firearms which they are smuggling into this country to come and kill our wildlife is something the Government must address very urgently. I want to thank our armed forces because as they push into Somalia this is not a time to stand back. It is now time for the Kenya Government to ensure that we stabilize Somalia once and for all, for the good of this nation and the future of East Africa. We have a lot of residents of Somali origin here. Some of them are warlords or previous warlords. They are doing a lot of businesses. They are bringing a lot of money through piracy or whatever. Some of this money may not be genuine. They are cleaning up their money here in Nairobi or in Kenya and other parts of the country. They must be told in no uncertain terms that as they come to look for peace and tranquility in Kenya, they should not use their money to destabilize our country. They should not use their money also to destabilize the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia. They must support our Government’s efforts to stabilize that country so that Somalis can live in peace. I urge the Kenya Government to mop up firearms that are in the wrong hands. We should tighten our border points. We must screen all the people coming into our country. Many people from Ethiopia and Somalia find a safe haven here because our own officers are corrupt. The same corruption is what is causing problems because we will address the issue of Somalia if we can address our own issue of corruption. Our officers who are tasked with protecting the country and stopping criminals from coming to Kenya must be serious. We know these people will carry firearms. These are criminals running away from their countries. Of course, not all of them are criminals. They must not be allowed to come to Kenya unless they are properly screened. Recently, we passed the Refugees Act which is very clear. It stipulates the punishment warlords and those who are transiting humans through Kenya should face. We should use the law to stop these warlords from bringing people into Kenya. This is because these people sometimes engage themselves in criminal activities while they are here."
}