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"id": 213996,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/213996/?format=api",
"text_counter": 190,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Serut",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 297,
"legal_name": "John Bomet Serut",
"slug": "john-serut"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me to thank the Minister and his team from the Ministry of State for Administration and National Security for the good work they are doing, and especially to reform the Police Force, which is always in contact with the civilians. If you look at where we were in 2002 and where we are today, there is a big difference. The police are becoming more civil everyday. I want to congratulate this particular Ministry for what it is doing. I want to further congratulate the Minister for taking care of the welfare of the police. They have made an attempt to improve their living conditions, including their salaries. In 2002, junior police officers were earning Kshs3,000. Today, they are earning well over Kshs10,000. I feel this Government is out for the welfare of those police officers. When it comes to housing, as my colleagues have already mentioned, I want to appreciate the work that the Ministry is doing. We have to start from the known. Projects that were abandoned have been completed. I know that very soon, the Minister will focus on the rural areas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the purpose of passing this particular amount, which is set out very clearly in the Vote, is to render services to Kenyans. Those services are rendered by our security agents, including the Provincial Administration. On that note, I want to appreciate what this Ministry has done for the Provincial Administration, especially to the lower cadre - that is the chiefs. Initially, a senior chief would only go up to Job Group J. There was no more upward mobility unless that chief, maybe, went to school to further his or her studies. That is when he could get elsewhere. But, today, chiefs can move up to Job Group M. That, alone, is an incentive to the chiefs. I know the chiefs will work very hard. The other day, they were added some askaris . Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, however, I want to say that we have a problem. I do not know how the Ministry will handle that problem. The work of the security agents is now being hampered by the new wave of crime. The more we educate the society, the more society becomes exposed. It becomes very sophisticated as far as crime is concerned. Today, it is very hard to carry out an operation in any area because of mobile phones. Time has come when, as a nation, we have July 12, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2495 to think--- If there are criminals in a particular area, what can we do with mobile phones? I want to give a good example. In Mt. Elgon District today, the police are not able to arrest a ragtag group that is operating in that particular area. One of the reasons for that is: Whenever the police are given information, it is very easy for that particular information to leak out. It is communicated through mobile phones to that group. The police end up being a disappointed lot. I want to request that, whereas we want to deal with crime, we should think of new dimensions as far as crime is concerned. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another complication that I have witnessed of late is the issue of terrain. I know the Minister, some time, said that we have enough police officers to deal with crime in any given area. But I want to request him that there are certain areas where the terrain does not allow the general norm to operate. One of those areas is Mt. Elgon District, where the terrain is different from other areas. We have got forests and caves. As I speak here today, most of the people in Mt. Elgon District have been rendered refugees in their own country. In two divisions, my people are living in fear because they are refugees in their own country. In those two divisions, abductions, extortions and killings are routine. Every day, you will hear of two or three people being abducted and killed or people losing their money to those criminals. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, whereas we support the release of that money to the Ministry, all I am asking is for the Ministry to come up with a new strategy to handle crime in this country. I am not only speaking for the people of Mt. Elgon District. I also want to speak for the people of Coast Province, Nairobi and other areas, where the Mungiki has become a menace. It is high time that, as a country, we went back to the drawing table and asked ourselves: \"Where did we go wrong that we have all these youths roaming our streets?\" It is time we re-looked at the information that we receive and asked ourselves whether it will assist or not. What is happening is that the crime wave that has taken about one year in Mt. Elgon District is because of some people trying to distort information. A good example is where they say that there are tribal clashes in Mt. Elgon District. I want to refute that here. There is no community fighting another community in that district. This is a group of youths who have come together, decided to kill people and extort money from them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I speak today, I do so, with a lot of pain. It is pain in the sense that for the last one year, I cannot sleep till morning without getting a phone call that somebody has lost his or her entire family or a sister, a brother or property to a group operating in Mt. Elgon District. I want to add that we have also lost our own officers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the past, whenever police officers were attacked, there was prompt response from other officers. However, two months ago, we lost two police officers in that district; a General Service Unit (GSU) officer and an Administration Police (AP) officer, but nothing happened. On top of that, we lost firearms to these criminals. This happened two months ago. To date, no efforts have been made by the Government to recover the firearms from the criminals. The criminals are using the same firearms to scare away, intimidate and blackmail the people of that district. It appears as if this district is not part of this country. In fact, my people are asking me: \"Are we in Kenya? Where is the Government?\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have said that we are voting this money. We all know it comes from the taxes that we pay. However, as I mentioned earlier, there is extortion of money from the people of Mt. Elgon District. Why should my people pay tax twice? This the question I want to raise here. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me use this opportunity to tell the Ministry that they cannot deal with crime in that district without involving the people. The only way they can involve the people is by employing the services of homeguards. These homeguards can guide police officers to deal with crime in that district. 2496 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 12,2006 So, it is my humble submission, Bw. Waziri, that you assist the people of Mt. Elgon District by bringing them on board to deal with crime."
}