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"id": 213114,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/213114/?format=api",
"text_counter": 194,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ojaamong",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 196,
"legal_name": "Sospeter Odeke Ojaamongson",
"slug": "sospeter-ojaamongson"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will find that, due to the low salaries that our police officers are paid, starting from the Officer Commanding Station (OCS)-- I like giving examples from my place. There is Malaba and Adungosi police stations. Junior police officer are summoned every morning and each is given a target. They are sent out to the field. They are told: \"Go and patrol! But when you come back in the evening, you should come with, at least, Kshs10,000\". That money will be given to the OCS and forwarded to the Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD). I do not know whether it goes up to the Minister! But I know it goes up to those levels. So, some of those junior who are not corrupt enough to obey that rule at times, go to the field and come with less than the target. What are they trained to do? Those are the officers who will be forced to sit at the counters at police stations. They will never go out again. They will do small jobs for the OCS and OCPD such as polishing shoes and the rest. If only there could be a very good salary scheme for our police, I do not think the OCS and OCPD could be mistreating their junior officers. In the end, it is the public who are also mistreated outside there. Those officers will have to effect charges on the people. The ordinary people have to cough up something to buy their freedom or else, they will go to the police stations. So, as a result of the poor pay, police officers are forced into taking bribes and extorting money from people in order to maintain their upkeep. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when it comes to the promotion of police officers-- Currently, we have a Police Commissioner who was appointed from the army. I do not think other police officers who were going up through the promotion ladder were happy when that happened. If we made that mistake, we should not repeat it again. That is because that man is trained to defend this country from external aggression. We have police officers who have gone through basic training and reached various levels, who know what police work is all about. Why should we bring in an army person to lead the police force? So, in order to avoid the mistrust between police officers themselves, we need to give them the morale that one day, they will move from a police constable to OCS, OCPD, Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner! Let us ensure that there is smooth promotion of those police officers. Let us not start hiring people from elsewhere. Next time, we might even hire people from outside the country to lead our police force. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I must thank the Mover of the Motion, Mr. Ojode, because I know that, in our Government, he is going to hold a very big post when we form the next Government at the end of the year. I propose that he takes over the Ministry of State for Administration and National Security. That is because he is very much concerned about the welfare of police officers. I also feel that police officers who are currently on duty should give all of us sufficient security. With those few remarks, I beg to support. 2582 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 18, 2007"
}