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"id": 194978,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Farah",
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"legal_name": "Farah Maalim Mohamed",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I just hope this is not another ploy! The clause says: If a request for surrender of a person is received from the ICC and a request for the extradition of that person is received from one or more states for conduct other than that which constitutes the crime for which the ICC seeks the person, the person to be surrendered, the Minister shall determine whether the person is to be surrendered to the ICC or to the requesting state--- I read a lot mischief in that clause. I equally read a similar mischief where the clause says that should the Minister receive such extradition request from a state that is not a member of the ICC, then the Minister still has the right to determine where that person will be sent to. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the biggest abusers of human rights and perpetrators of genocide in the world is none other than the USA. This is fact that we all know. This already gives me the impression: Should a soldier of fortune--- The way that did in Angola in the past and Congo, most of them were from the western hemisphere. They would come and carry out genocide and destabilise the states. We have the failed state syndrome that essentially some us think is the way forward for some powerful states in the world. If we capture some of those mercenaries, we cannot take them to court because there is a competing extradition treaty from the state. If you would remember the story of Bob Denard, who had carried out so many coups in the Comoros, he could not be taken to the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice because the French said they would seize him themselves. They said he had broken French laws. The man just got a slap on the wrist because many people believed he did the bidding during those days for a superpower and that could be the superpower itself. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we now have economic genocide. The failed state syndrome in Africa is the case in Somalia, Congo, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Many other states are also threatened with similar situations. This is economic genocide! The very powerful Western warlords have their own militia! They take away the coal tan, which is very precious mineral, from Congo. There is also tin, diamond and uranium minerals which are the wealth of the continent. May 7, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 919 They are also being taken away. This happens because there are no states to negotiate with. It is easier for the West to arm, facilitate and finance the warlords, while they take away the timber from the Congo Forest. All these raw materials end up in the West. The money which is stolen from the continent often ends up in Switzerland, American and European banks. The concessions that are given out by West are a ploy to take away our minerals. Between me and you, as we talk here today, in the entire Somali State, I am told from one end to the other end, there are concessions for prospecting oil exploration and natural resources of the continent that have been given to Western companies. So, even if we get back the so-called state or a Government in Somalia, we would have a problem dealing with those companies. This is because they will be told that these are international treaties. They would be told: \"You had given us concessions for exploration of oil and 70 per cent of the proceeds will be taken by the American, British, French or Canadian companies for the next 100 years\". That is precisely how it is going now. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want the Attorney-General to understand that the economic genocide and wanton destruction of property that is taking us back to the days of slavery in the continent should have been included in this statute more than anything else. The permanent impoverishment of the black man, the slavery and the colonisation that we suffered is still what keeps us where we are. There has been no compensation and responsibility for what happened. The context of the statute tells me how little the black continent participated in the formulation of this statute. We need to be compensated, as a continent. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have to use this Bill to our own benefit as a country. The genocide that happened in Wagalla, Malkamari and the wanton killings of innocent people during the post-election violence should not have happened in our country. To that extent, we welcome this law. Although we could have dealt with the same problems on our own municipal statutes in our country, nonetheless, like I told you, the same people who do not want to become signatories to this law are the same ones who are pushing for it to be ratified by all the sovereign states in the world. The idea is to create a law which I can always hold against you, your leadership and hold your country hostage but the law does not apply to me. That is essentially what it is. To that extent, for the sake of our own domestic interest, I welcome it. I know that we cannot change much about it. You cannot also take it partially. You have to take it wholly. My advice is that we should have a very special police unit that will work with the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs and the Attorney-General's office so that we use the provisions of this Bill to create cohesion among our own people so that what happened in the past never happens again. I have an issue with what is called \"command-and-control\" in which a policeman shoots someone because he has been asked to do so by his boss. I have a problem with sects that are violent. There are many sects that are violent. I do not subscribe to a situation where people are being killed because they are referred to as members of the Mungiki . You cannot kill young people because they subscribe to the Mungiki sect. We can do better than that. They are innocent because the presumption of the term innocent is there in our Constitution and in our laws. Someone is innocent until proven guilty. There is no crime called Mungiki . Whereas we are steadfast in doing that, I think that in itself, is a form of genocide. I hope that the Minister and the Attorney-General will see this in that light. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the information I have is that hundreds of young men have been killed. We all have that information although we have no way of verifying it. There is a rehabilitation process, a punishment process, jailing process and many other ways of dealing with people who break the law. Killing them is not a solution. I hope that the spirit of this Bill will be used for the welfare and sanctity of the Kenyan lives. It should not be used because a superpower up there, or the international community, because of donor funding, and they want something to be 920 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 7, 2008 done, is forcing us to be part of it because we are part of the global community. We have to, first of all, apply it in our own country in a manner that is more profound and determined. Since we are in the midst of many failed states and many states have their own problems--- I know that the hon. Attorney-General wants to conclude this debate fast because he keeps on standing up and sitting down! Nonetheless, I will finish my contribution soon. I hope we have all been watching news. This country is in the neighbourhood of many failed States. I am asking for professional well-trained people, lawyers included, to be part of this well-paid special force that will be investigating and compiling evidence on genocide or crimes against humanity. That pool of knowledge could come in handy for the neighbouring countries. We could call upon them to conduct a similar thing in Somalia and in the rest of our neighbourhood like in Ethiopia where it happens quite often and in Uganda where the Lord's Resistance Army and the Government are foes. It should also carry out its work in Sudan and in our own country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is genocide going on in Mogadishu right now. About 1.5 million residents have fled the country. We watch news and see that because of the conflict in the resistance against the Ethiopian occupation and the Transitional Federal Government that was formed here in Nairobi, and not in Somalia, there is a lot of what they are calling collateral damage where innocent human beings are being killed and shelled without mercy. Not our own leaders or Government, not even the renowned human rights advocate, the Attorney-General Amos Wako, has come out into the open to condemn the wanton killings of innocent Somalis in Mogadishu right now at his behest. We also have to take up certain responsibilities because we are the ones who formed the lame duck Government that has no teeth beyond inviting insurgents to go and wipe out the Somalis or inviting the Americans to come and shell the poor Somalis from the sky. The reason why I am talking about all this is because I am an ardent believer in the sanctity of life and more so the life of an African. I do not want us to believe that we are any lesser human beings. We know what happened in Bosnia, Kosovo and Europe and the holocaust of the Jews, and we all sympathise with it, but now we think that this is something concerning the rest of the world and not us. We think this way because we have to accept aid and other things that are connected with this and because we have to be part of the globe. The donor community is making a lot of noise and the international community is insisting on this law. It has to come from deep within the depths of our own hearts and conscience; that we need to do this for our own people both as a race, country and as a region. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to call upon the hon. Attorney-General, as the first litmus test, on the enactment of this law, to use his discretion with regard to what happened in Wagalla because that is the first recorded massacre that happened in this country. Some time ago, there was a statutory provision in the country that indemnified members of the security forces from prosecution. That was repealed in 1992. However, before that, we had a law that said that you could kill as many Somalis as possible in northern Kenya and no one would hold you responsible for that. As long as you had bullets in your gun and a target to shoot, that was fine. Mr. Mungatana knows about this. He was a young man in those days but he comes from the same region. I can see my friend, the Attorney-General, wants me to conclude this. I wish to support this Bill."
}