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"id": 198944,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/198944/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Muite",
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"legal_name": "Paul Kibugi Muite",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion very strongly. All the nine protocols fall into the area of security, stability and development. If our region is going to receive international respect and stability, we must increasingly see all the countries in the Great Lakes Region as one region. When we talk about majimbo, we should be talking about these countries working as federal states in one unit. That is the majimbo that would actually work. It is a much better majimbo and it would bring a lot of economic development. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to urge, that it is in the interest of Kenya to sign all these protocols and ratify them as quickly as possible. When you get instability in one country, it affects all the neighbouring countries. We know for a fact that when Uganda was unstable, the whole region was unstable. You can see the case of small arms from Somalia and Southern Sudan getting into Kenya. It is out of selfish interests that Kenya should seek to ensure that there is stability in the entire region. The ratification and the implementation of all these protocols will go a long way in bringing that stability and peace around. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you know that instability does not happen overnight. Where there is armed conflict, instability does not happen overnight. The signs are there. It is a small step at a time. If you pre-empt violence by taking the necessary corrective measures by collaborating, because these protocols will ensure that the member countries are collaborating in the area of peace and stability, we will prevent the escalation of the conflict that eventually consumes a country and the region. So, this is something that we need to have done yesterday. Instead of investing a lot of money trading with outsiders, we should deliberately encourage analysis to see how we can promote trade within the region. For example, the greatest trading partner of Kenya is Uganda. We should exploit this around the region. That is how we can bring development. If all the countries are economically empowered, the region gets stability. But where one country in the region is poor and it is not exploiting its economic potential, that is a source of conflict within that country and that conflict will extend to all the neighbouring countries. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would urge that we invest in the region a lot more. A good starting point is to ratify and implement all these protocols, so that they can assist even in economic collaboration and trading within the block in the selfish interest of our country. We have been stable for a long time as a country, but we should not rest on our laurels. The fact that we have never had ugly situations like in the rest of the region, is not guarantee that it could not happen in future. Let us not be complacent. Let us invest more in peace and stability in addressing signs of conflict both in the country and in the region. When we see signs like we saw in Mt. Elgon, let us not just indulge in rhetoric. Let us ensure that it does not escalate and that it is stopped in time. When we see the sort of situations we have been seeing in Tana River and other areas in North Eastern Province, we should address these signs both within the country and in the region. I have said consistently and I will repeat that insecurity, for example, in Kenya, has reached proportions that are completely unacceptable. When you begin to accept these situations of insecurity as normal, these are danger signals. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, most of the people who live in Kibiko Area in Ngong, came from Kikuyu Constituency and there are relatives on both sides. The other day, a young man died in Kibiko, Kajiado North Constituency, and three young men, who were relatives of the dead man, went to Ngong to dig the grave for the young man who had died to be buried. These young men were from Thogoto, Gikambura. They dug the grave and they went to buy cigarettes in Ngong Township. The Officer Commanding Station (OCS), Ngong Police Station, arrested these three young men and alleged that they were followers of the Mungiki Sect. Within 30 minutes, the bodies of these young men were at the City Mortuary. He told them that he had released them and they October 17, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4529 could go and when they started walking, each one of them was shot through the head from behind at close range with four bullets. These are danger signals. When we accept this as the norm and allow the police to carry out extra-judicial killings of young men who are not armed, it is unacceptable. I want to state specifically that I have no problem with the police killing armed persons. But where people are not armed, to extra-judiciary execute them is unacceptable. These are the sort of incidents that eventually lead to chaos. I want to very strongly support this Motion. I want to say that the rule of law is the greatest guarantor of peace and stability in any country and in the region. So, let us clean our own act internally and in the region. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}