HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 213123,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/213123/?format=api",
"text_counter": 203,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Munya",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the President",
"speaker": {
"id": 279,
"legal_name": "Joseph Konzolo Munyao",
"slug": "joseph-munyao"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I would like to take this opportunity to thank hon. Ojode for bringing this important Motion. I would also like to thank other hon. Members who have made very good contributions, that we have been taking note of, and which we will take into account when implementing this important Motion. This Motion shows that hon. Members recognise that police officers do a very important work for this country and regard them as a critical element of our security and our development. That is why we are supporting this Motion and we will implement it. Even as we complain and point out the inadequacies that are there in police training and equipment, it is important to take stock of the fact that this Government has done a lot in making the police force more responsive to crime and better equipped to deal with crime better. We took over the Government when the police force was one of the neglected sectors just like all other the sectors. Nobody cared for them. They had been left to fend for themselves. They had been left to get money from wherever they would because the Government was not ready to improve their remuneration. However, when this Government took over, their allowances were looked into and their salaries were, in fact, doubled from what they were earning. As we get more budgetary allocation, we will keep on looking into the salaries and allowances of police officers and make them better. So far, we have improved them. In fact, I dare say that the morale of the police officers is at the highest at this point compared to the past. They are not complaining about salaries at this point. As much as they might want more money given to them, they appreciate what this Government has done for them. In terms of housing, we found stalled projects and the police officers were sleeping in places I would refer to as shanties. Some of them were sharing rooms and beds, but we provided July 18, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2585 enough money for housing. We have been building 3,000 units every year. Even with the existing budgetary constraints, everywhere you go, you will see police officers' houses being built. You will see police stations being renovated and some being rebuilt. That is a sign of a Government that cares. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have also provided a lot of money for buying police officers guns that are better than what the criminals have. We have provided them with vehicles. We are also repairing the police choppers so that they can respond very quickly to crime in distant areas. Most importantly, because this Motion talks about risk allowance, health, and insurance, there was a project to build a police hospital which had stalled. Right now, we are building it in Embakasi. This is a specialised police hospital which will offer medical services to police officers. It is modelled on the Moi Forces Memorial Hospital which treats Military personnel. So, soon, police officers will be able to, whenever they are injured or hurt, instead of going to public hospitals, they will go to a hospital of their own. That is an important improvement. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in terms of training, making the police better or more humane, because they had been left on their own, we have included the human rights training, disaster management and other related subjects that will make the police better trained intellectually to handle and understand the nature of their work. During the last recruitment, we doubled the number of recruits. Apart from doubling the figure so that we can meet the UN requirement of one policeman per 450 people, we have also increased the number of university graduates and specialised personnel who have studied subjects like criminology and forensic science so that we can have a highly qualified cadre of police officers at the top. These officers will help to shape policy and to make the police a better force. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have also started various specialised units to deal with various aspects of crime. We have the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit, Anti-Stock Theft Unit and the Anti-Money Laundering. We also have a specialised unit that deals specifically with tourism and another that deals with diplomats such that when diplomats are in trouble, they can call the police and the unit responds immediately. Those are some of the areas we have been endeavouring to deal with to make the police force better. Since everybody is talking about low pay, I want to point out that there is no time anybody will say that their salary is enough. Everybody would want his salary to be increased. Lack of salary or low salary should not be a motivation to be corrupt. If that was the case, the watchman who earns very little and, yet they take care of our homes would be robbing the houses they guard because their salaries are very low. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the motivation for corruption is not poverty; it is a problem of the mind that needs to be addressed. The issue of work ethics, lack of commitment and people not being patriotic--- So, apart from just the pay contributing to corruption, we need to also address our own values as a society. The most corrupt people in this country are not the poorest people! Those who have squandered money and have been involved in mega scandals in this country---Those who have robbed the Exchequer in the past are not the poorest people in this country. We need to stop the business of saying: \"Because we are poor, we become corrupt!\" We need to look at how the poor--- Even as poor as they are, they can work harder. They actually work! In fact, most of the poor people in this country work very hard. Our mothers were peasants who were toiling every day in their farms! They are not corrupt! So, we should never make an excuse of not having enough money or not having as much money as other people have so as not to do your job the way you are supposed to do, even as we become sensitive. There is need to pay people better! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have been addressing corruption in the police force. In fact, the Police Commissioner, whom one of the hon. Members was complaining about, was brought in to handle corruption! He was brought in as an outsider because people were 2586 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 18, 2007 thinking that the police force was so corrupt that it needed somebody from outside to come and help it address that problem. I remember that when he came in, he had senior officers in the police force fired because they were not seen to be fit. Many people raised hell in this House. They were saying: \"Children and sons from our communities are being harassed.\" So, it is us, leaders in this House, who make it very difficult for us to do reforms. That is because instead of looking at reforms, we look at where people come from. We look at who is my tribesman. When your tribesman is touched, instead of asking whether that tribesman of yours was doing his job the way he was supposed to do, your knee-jerk reaction is to defend your own! So, this particular House is one of the hindrances of making reforms, even within the police force. That is because you are always defending! Any time something is done to make things better, you are up in arms. Therefore, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to address ourselves as a House. We should be committed to guide reforms. We are the ones who guide it. We are the ones who come up with policies here! When we come up with those policies, let us support those policies, even where they hurt us. Even where they hurt our own, let us support them so that our country could be better. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are pleased that the Police Commissioner is doing a good job in bringing those reforms. They have a board that listens to complaints. If you have a complaint against a particular police officer, you are free to bring it up and it will be listened to. Take it to the Police Commissioner or bring it to us and we will also raise it with them. We will deal with that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Wamwere has talked about the Grand Regency Hotel, where people who work there are not escorted to work. When he raised that particular matter, we addressed it. We said that those workers should not be harassed by the police. In fact, they were taken to their place of work but, because of the problem of Grand Regency Hotel having two Receiver Managers, that is why those workers are having a problem. It has nothing to do with the police! The police cannot come inside a private business and determine who works or supervises the work there. So, that problem can be addressed by other organs of the Government, and not the police force. The police force did its job. The officers released them. They escorted them to the Grand Regency Hotel. But those particular officers were frustrated internally from doing their work."
}