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"id": 196040,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/196040/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Shakeel",
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"legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Although I have spoken before, I have never presented my maiden speech. May I take this opportunity to thank the voters of Kisumu Town East for giving me overwhelming support. I also wish to support the coalition Government. I, especially, thank them because we are now enjoying peace. Kisumu City, as you know, was very badly hit by the effects of the post-election violence. I do not want to revisit this matter, because it brings back bad memories. But we must note that one of the cities that were hurt most was Kisumu. On the Motion before the House, there are many times when I have wondered what this identity card really is meant to do. It is a card that identifies you as a Kenyan. The difficulty is, of course, how people interpret this. Many people have carried with them the original identity card. Before I was born, I understand that people used to carry a kipande round their neck. They were not meant to lose it. Many people carry around their original IDs, but with the pick pockets that we have, many IDs are lost. Some of us carry photocopies of IDs. My assumption is that the photocopy ID is just a photocopy, but it identifies the person. If the police officers, or anybody else, have a problem with that they can verify it against the original. We have great difficulties in Kisumu City, especially in Kondele, where somebody has lost his or her ID. Some of these people happen to have photocopies of their IDs. They sometimes have an abstract, but after 7.00 p.m. police officers use non-production of an original ID as an excuse to make money. They normally tell wananchi : \" Mbona mnaranda randa na nia mbaya?\" A lady may be going to buy milk and she is told that her photocopy ID is not good enough as an identification document. She may also be carrying her original voter's card and a licence, and she is told that none of them is good enough. She is told to get a passport. How is a lady in Kondele going to get a passport? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am happy that the Minister is here. I would like him to take note that there are people in this country who can get a passport more easily than they can get an ID. There are many people in this country who have passports and no IDs. When you go to vote you are asked for either your passport or ID. The principal reason for an ID card is to indicate that you are a Kenyan. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I understand that an ID is a document someone keeps. It is not to be taken away from you by anybody, not even by the police or anybody else. If you visit April 23, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 605 certain buildings and you do not have an original ID you will not be let in. Security officers will take your ID and give you a piece of paper or something else to allow you get into the building. I think that is illegal. I would like the Minister to issue a statement on this matter. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the idea that the identity card (ID) and the voting card should be combined to serve as one document. An hon. Member has suggested that the PIN number should be put on that identity card. Due to ethnicity and the problems that we have experienced in this country, do we need to redesign the identity card to merely state that so and so is a Kenyan and born in such and such a place? The issue of somebody's birthplace should not be there because that is used for ethnicity purposes. Many passengers in matatus going to Kisumu from Nairobi have been stopped at Naivasha and asked to show their IDs. The moment they show their identity cards and it is revealed that they come from Kisumu, they are told, \"Toka nje\" . The same applies to people coming to Nairobi from Kisumu. They are forced to show their IDs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, So, the ID is being misused by people who are trying to promote ethnicity. It is also misused by the police and other authorities or people who have no right, whatsoever, to ask you for ID. For example, why should an askari manning a building ask you to show him your ID? All he needs to do is to make sure that you are not carrying a bomb or you are not up to something bad. He has no right to ask you to identify yourself! I think that is the right of the police and those people who think that you are carrying out an illegal act. I would like the Minister to advise us on the issue of a duplicate or photocopy ID. Why can that not be carried together with, perhaps, an original driving licence? If you are stopped by the police, you can always take your ID to them, or the nearest police station, within 24 hours."
}