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"id": 182754,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/182754/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Saitoti",
"speaker_title": "The Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security",
"speaker": {
"id": 205,
"legal_name": "George Muthengi Kinuthia Saitoti",
"slug": "george-saitoti"
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"content": " Well, thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me begin by acknowledging the fact that this particular Motion is extremely important in the sense that, indeed, security is very vital for us, as human beings, and more so, as Kenyans. I would like to assure the hon. Member that I have taken very seriously, whatever has been said here. It is important to tell hon. Members that I concede that since the time we brought down the post-election violence, we have begun to see a resurgence of cattle rustling. At that time of post- election violence, we did not have much of the cattle rustling. In fact, it was almost nil. It is equally true that we had brought down all these minor crimes. We monitor carefully, the trend of crime in this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me however, also state a few things which hon. Members should understand. It is true that if you compare this period now to the one of last year, you will find that crime has actually come down. We have come a long way. This country was burning. I got into this Ministry sometime in January when you could hardly be able to move freely in Nairobi, and neither could you be able to travel all the way to Nakuru or to the Ugandan border. We had a very serious problem. About 1,300 people died. Destruction of property occurred. The police are not perfect but it is also good to acknowledge them. These people worked extremely hard to bring us to a state of normalcy and there are a number of them who died. I know they are good in punching people but as hon. Members, let us also understand that they are also good people who ensure that things are going on smoothly. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are a number of things that have been stated here. I want to agree that we have got a problem of cattle rustling. It is this problem that prompted me to urge the hon. Members from the cattle rustling areas to meet. Indeed, we had a two-days meetin out in Naivasha. We agreed on a number of broad issues. We are looking into them and I am going to be calling the monitoring committee that we set up, sometime next week, so that we can go one by one. The agreement there was that the Government would do its job because that is our obligation but at the same time, we as leaders and Members of Parliament and other Government officials, have got a very major role to play in advocating for our own people not to fight because this cattle rustling is between the communities. We have met them. The problem is that one leader will come to me as a Member and say that his or her people are being attacked by such-and-such a community. We take action and then the other one comes and says the same thing. I am supposed to go to Wamba and Isiolo tomorrow. We sat down with the hon. Members from both sides and agreed on the fact that we better bring the people on the table and make sure that we are able to broker peace. Once we did that, another problem arose. The hon. Members who were supposed to have met in Nanyuki last Friday did not show up. Those are the complications that hamper us when we are dealing with cattle rustling. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, currently, we do have a very major problem out in Mandera. Let me begin by thanking the hon. Members from the North Eastern Province because as the signs were beginning to show of an evolving problem in Mandera, they came to my office. They even brought the elders from the two communities. We talked and we were able to broker peace. It was for us as a Government to try to address what appeared to be causative problems. As we were October 23, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3025 moving there, unfortunately because in this particular game, there are also errant actors, they moved in and created a problem and, therefore, that is why we have a problem today. The problem is that we have two clans who are basically fighting and almost want to destroy each other. Each clan is going across the neighbouring country and looking for militia from there to come here and assist them. It is true that there are some people who have lost their lives. Indeed, it is true that even a military officer lost his life. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to assure this House that having realised that we needed to beef up the security forces, we have taken a very firm decision. Not only have we increased the regular police, the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) and the General Service Unit (GSU), but we have even brought in the army. The army is there and more are being sent out there. I want to assure those hon. Members that you will see what is going to happen in the next one or two days. We are going to ensure that the menace is going to come to an end. However, even much more important, we cannot allow militia or mercenaries from any foreign country to come and operate in this country. I want to assure the hon. Members that in a matter of days, those militias who have come here will be expelled out of Kenya. We will send a very strong message that Kenya is not a place for all these kind of people to play around. This is important because those people bring in their arms from across the borders, including Somalia and Ethiopia. Let me tell you the latest information. Our officers were able to capture a number of those people. But more important, some five Bazooka's were seized."
}