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{
"id": 19567,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/19567/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have come a long way. Now people know their rights. They know where to go when their rights are violated. But as you know, being my senior, we always have this maxim in law; that who will watch the watchers? The police are watching on us and we must have somebody to watch over the police, hence, this Oversight Board. I think in having this Oversight Board, we must be very clear in what we want to do. I think the idea is very good, because when there is police misconduct within themselves, you will find that a constable who has been wronged by a senior has to go to the same senior to complain for redress. It becomes very difficult to get justice. Sometimes, you will even find young and junior police officers who, in being overzealous in doing their jobs, stumble on the interest of their seniors and with the greatest respect to northern Kenya, you will find people are deliberately transferred and told that they are going to work in some place on disciplinary grounds. I do not believe that working in any part of this country would be a disciplinary issue, because we must respect everywhere. But when people are shuttled around because they disagree with their bosses, again, you need an external force to check on this. But hand in hand with this, I think the Minister must note that to get the police to do their work properly, we must also make it possible for them to do their work properly. If you have a police unit in North Horr, which has vast distances, has one Land Rover and is supposed to track down cattle rustlers, border insecurity and many other things, it becomes very difficult for you even to expect them to discharge their duties and responsibilities effectively. I have said, and I want to say it again, that the police commanding a station in North Horr do not need a Land Rover. They need helicopters to do their job. The police in Turkana need helicopters to do their job. If you give him a Land Rover and he has to travel up to 3,000 kilometres to track down cattle rustlers on bad roads and terrible terrain--- Sometimes, from one station to another, if they are not carrying several drums of fuel, they will run out of fuel on the way and, in the meantime, the criminals will disappear. So, as we want to get the police responsible, we must also make it possible for them to work effectively and properly. Today, criminals are very sophisticated. To fight them successfully, you must have the police a step ahead of them all the time, if we have to get these things done."
}