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"id": 213109,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Khamisi",
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"speaker": {
"id": 246,
"legal_name": "Joseph Matano Khamisi",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the police are also poorly equipped. Today, we are living under a society where gangsters are more educated, equipped and trained in the use of firearms. Unless we are prepared to adequately equip our police officers, the dangers inherent in their daily lives will continue. We need to motivate the police. We can only do so if we are able to offer them better housing, better equipment and pay them not only their salaries, but also allowances that make it very difficult for them to perform their duties. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think it is time, given the increased criminal activities in this country, that we seriously consider having a Minister who will be in charge of police affairs. I suggest that, that Minister should be fully mandated to handle issues that have been raised in this House. At the moment, I believe the relevant Ministry is not well-equipped in terms of management, personnel and so on, to run an effective Police Force. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, we have incidences of more police officers being killed in their course of duty. If we are serious about enhancing the welfare of our forces, it is important that we protect them from gangs and gangsters that are roaming our streets. When we look at the figures of crime--- We are being told that the rate of crime is going down. But these July 18, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2579 figures are only academic. On the ground, the incidents of crime continue to soar. We have just been talking about South Africa. Kenya is no better than South Africa. I urge the Government to put a little more effort in the fight against crime. Today, in our country, we have organised criminals who walk and attack in groups. They are able to outwit and out-gun the police. We have had occasions in Coast Province in recent weeks where gangs have actually invaded whole neighbourhoods. They have taken the people hostage. In one incident, women were actually marched from their residences to a spot two kilometres away, where they were raped by those gangsters. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, unless we are able to protect our people from these kind of activities, I do not know what kind of confidence we expect them to have in the Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, police officers work under very high risk conditions. We know, for sure, that bullet proof vests have not been adequately and widely used in our police force. I think it is high time our Government considered providing bullet proof vests to all police officers on duty. In this way, they can at least have some measure of protection from the gangs that roam our country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the provision of gloves, it is very sad to see some of our police officers carrying dead bodies into their vehicles without having the protection of gloves. This is a period when the HIV/AIDS scourge and other dangerous diseases are prevalent in this country. I think that all police officers should be provided with gloves to be used when carrying dead bodies. In this way, they can protect themselves from the HIV/AIDS scourge and other diseases. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it we also need to consider providing armoured vehicles to our police officers. The vehicles that we provide now are for general-use only. They cannot protect our men and women from the hazards of the gangs. We have dangerous situations where police officers are forced to go into neighbourhood to flash out criminals. It is important that they go there, in armoured vehicles, so that they can ensure their safety. Is also sad that in this country, police officers in high attitude areas of the country such as Nairobi wear the same type of uniform as those in lower attitude areas. Where I come from the weather is always hot. We cannot expect police officers in those areas to effectively perform their duties while wearing very uncomfortable uniforms, considering the weather. Similarly, we need to consider police officers when it comes to the hazards of changing weather patterns, particulary in a place like Nairobi. During the rainy season, police officers must continue with their duties in spite of rain. You can see that these officers shiver in the cold. We need to be humane enough to provide over-coats, umbrellas and other clothing that will protect our police officers from the harsh conditions in certain parts of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, often we see some of our police officers wearing uniforms that have become a little bit colourless. We refer to them as men and women in blue. However, in some cases, we see the colour blue has faded and become grey! We need to have a proper system where our police officers are fashioned, every so many years, to prevent the situation that we see. Only the other day, I saw a policeman wearing a blue uniform, but underneath his shirt he was wearing a red T-shirt. This does not look very good. It does not enhance the image and confidence in our police force. If we want to increase the morale of our police officers, it is important that we provide them with several sets of uniforms, so that they can feel comfortable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also need to be a little bit more creative here. We have been having these uniforms for a long time. Maybe, we need to look around and see whether we could fashion them a little more, so that they can be more presentable. Only the other day, the Government of China considered it necessary to re-fit its armed forces. The pictures that 2580 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 18, 2007 we saw of the ladies saluting were very smart. It gave a completely new image of the forces in that country. We can do the same. We spend a lot of money on issues that may not be extremely necessary. We need to pay attention to the people who give us peace day and night. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}