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"speaker_name": "Mr. Duale",
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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. From the outset, I want to join my colleagues in supporting the current military initiative. It is very unfortunate that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, his deputy and the entire Government are missing. I know that it is only the military that is pursuing the Al Shabaab and not the entire Government. I do not know where the entire Cabinet is. We only have two Cabinet Ministers here. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Somali geopolitics is very complex. We have lived with them for the last 20 years. The Kenya Government was involved in the formation of a number of governments in Somalia, including the current government of Sheikh Shariff. The Kenya Government initiative will not, in my opinion, solve the Somalia problem. The Somalia problem is a political problem. It will only be solved by the Somalis themselves, including the Al-Shabaab and the Al-shabaab are not from the Mars. The Al-Shabaabs are the people of Somalia. So, for record purposes, the international community, the East African Community (EAC), the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union (AU) must bring the players in the Somali politics to the table without the exclusion of the Al-Shabaab . The Somali problem will not be solved militarily. The Somali problem will not be solved by the Kenyan military or the AU peace-keeping forces. This must be very clear. The Somali problem will be solved by the people of Somalia – the main political players including the Al-Shabaab . Whether you call them a terrorist organisation, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda or a criminal gang, they are Somalis and they must be part and parcel of the Somali political process. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, secondly, what is the backlash as we now support the Kenyan military initiative? What will be the backlash for the Somali community or Kenyan Somalis who occupy 22 per cent of this country? We have systems. History will bear me out that in 1994 there was something called the Somali screening card. We hope that this initiative will not be used by the security apparatus to harass the Somali community in Kenya. We want to say it here that as Members of Parliament from northern Kenya and from the Somali community, those who are in Government and those who are in the Back Bench, we will not allow Kenyan Somalis to be harassed. If you go to Eastleigh now, you will see the military patrolling. You ask yourself: Why is the military not patrolling in Lavington and Karen, and why is it patrolling Eastleigh? It is the work of the security agents of this country to know, identify and evaluate the criminals from the Kenyan citizenry. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, when Kampala was bombed, the people who did that – the eight of them who were arrested were Kenyans from Central and Western provinces; the notion that the Al-Shabaab, the terrorists are Muslims of Somali descent was farfetched and the records will bear me out. Why should the Government put restrictions in the areas where the Somali community lives? These are the questions that we are going to put to the Prime Minister today. As much as we support the Kenyan military initiative in Somalia--- The Constitution that we adopted, the people of northern Kenya and the Somali community voted for it 98 per cent and we must live with it. Whether it is the Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security or anybody else in Government, the Kenya government is the same Government that is giving the so-called identity cards and passports to these people. It is not the people. It is the leadership. We do not issue identity cards and passports. We will support the Government in making sure that our country is secure, and that any extreme elements from across the border will not come and kidnap our people. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security and the Minister of State for Defence of this Government must be very clear. We will be watching them in the coming days to see how they will carry out their operations in Kenya. However, as we speak here, it is the right of the Kenya Government--- As leaders from the region, we have told them more than ten times to relocate this refugee camp to southern Somalia. We have told them that it is your Government that is issuing Kenyan identification documents to people who are not Kenya citizens. Today we are being taken back to the era of the red screening cards. Today, Kenyans will refuse to get the screening cards, and this must go on record. Is the Somali Judge in the Supreme Court, Judge Mohammed---"
}