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"id": 214762,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
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"speaker": {
"id": 195,
"legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was trying to refer to serviceability of the equipment that is procured by the Ministry of State for Administration and National Security. We spend a lot of money procuring vehicles and other equipment, but they are not properly maintained. So, you find the depots are full of vehicles. Some of them, had minor accidents and have just been abandoned there. It is very important that this Government becomes more serious about maintenance of equipment. Mr. Speaker, Sir, secondly, I want to talk about the issue of insecurity in the country July 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2445 generally. We have raised this matter so many times in this House. Virtually, every day we are asking for a Ministerial Statement on this matter. Why? Because the state of insecurity in the country is alarming. What is happening here is not only dangerous for the residents of this country, but it is also scaring away potential investors. It is very important that this Government takes the issue of security much more seriously. People have been dying in the last financial year in Mount Elgon, Samburu, Turkana, Marsabit, Moyale, Tana River and Murang'a districts, Nairobi and other parts of the country. These are some of the deaths that are preventable. A government which cannot provide security for its people is not a government that is worth existing. It is the primary responsibility of any government to protect lives and properties of its citizens. We, therefore, do not just want empty assurances that something will be done about insecurity. We want to see actual protection. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the issue of recruitment and training, not only of police officers, but also for the Provincial Administration, I want to begin with the latter. We had said that the Provincial Administration as is currently constituted is a relic of colonialism that has very little space in an independent country. We do not have it in Britain where it came from. We did not say that we will scrap the Provincial Administration, but we said that we will reform it to make it much more relevant to our situation. Currently, there are chiefs at Embakasi Administration Police Training College (EAPTC) being trained. The main propaganda which is being spread to all of them, when they are brought here, is that if you allow the ODM(K) Government to come into power, you will all be sacked. This is the propaganda which is being spread to these people all the time. Even when groups come here, this is the information that they come to tell us. This Government knows about this propaganda. We know that the Kilifi Draft Constitution is the one that was actually intended to scrap the Provincial Adminstration; it is not the Bomas Draft. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with regard to recruitment, the same applies. I want this Government to borrow an example from the Government of Malaysia in order to deal with the issue of ethnicity. This Government intends to recruit 24,000 policemen over the next few years. It is very important that there is equity in recruitment. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in Malaysia, for example, they have several communities like Malayans, Chinese, Indians and other minorities. What they have done is that they have come up with clear demographic figures regarding the quantities of various communities. When they are recruiting, they make sure that each community gets its quota. This is very important that, for example, when they are going to recruit 100 policemen, they know that straightaway 60 will be Malayan, 30 will be Chinese and the rest will be taken by Indians and the others. By so doing, each and every community gets its fair share. That is what we should be doing here. If that is done, there will be no complaint about tribalism and ethnicity. It will also help the President on this issue of tribalism. The civil servants doing this do not know the kind of political cost to the Government. This country is now torn along ethnic lines as a result of the actions of these civil servants who are recruiting in a very skewed manner. If they use the Malaysian example, even an El Molo will find space in this Government. It is not just a question of merit. Merit must also be toned with equity. So, if it is, for example, a quota for the Kisii, that merit must be available within the Kisii community. So, if it is a quota for the Kambas or the Mijikendas, they look for merit within those communities. At the moment, they just advertise. They invite people to come for interviews and they just look at how those people have performed. In that way, we find that the service is so skewed. They only recruit from a section of the society. The other section of society which is being left, also pays taxes. They also have people who are qualified. These are some of the issues which, sometimes, cause wars in countries. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to advise this Government that time for tapping phone calls 2446 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 11, 2007 of politicians are long gone. Why should somebody come and ask, why do you talk to so-and-so? How does that benefit him? He tells you that he heard you talking to your girlfriend and so on. Those are the efforts or technologies which are so misplaced. Those are things which should not exist in a civilised society. The time when the Special Branch officers were following politicians and tapping their phone calls and conversations are long gone. I want to invite this Government to understand that none of these politicians have evil intentions about it. We want to get rid of this Government through legal means and we shall do it, whether they like it or not. So, they do not actually have to go to the extent of trying to stifle our phone conversations. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we would like to see that this Government improves the relationship with our neighbours. The other week I was in Busia border where His Excellency the Vice- President and Minister for Home Affairs comes from. Yesterday, he had a visit from His Excellency the President of Uganda. I am sure, he obviously, raised the issue with him. When I went to Busia, there was a queue of three kilometres of trucks waiting to cross the border into Uganda. Some of the trucks are destined for Rwanda, Burundi and so on. I was told that the trucks take as long as three days to cross the Busia border to Uganda. It is true that this is a permanent feature. It is the same scenario on a daily basis. We ask ourselves: \"What are we doing to the economy of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi?\" We should put ourselves in that picture. Mr. Speaker, Sir, first, the goods are held in Mombasa for so long. They are released from Mombasa and taken to Busia where they stay for three days merely because the customs officers are there waiting to be paid some money before they allow the trucks to go. It is so primitive and so distressing. It is something that you really would not expect of the NARC Government which came into power on the promise of reforms. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we would like to see some kind of discipline amongst the officers here. Why should police officers make people miss their flights at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA)? Why should we have three road-blocks between here and the airport? It is because of that, that people miss their flights. It is also the cause of terrible traffic jams. There are some permanent road-blocks in the City of Nairobi which we do not need. I wish the Minister could even order tonight that these road-blocks be removed because they are not doing anything useful. They are just toll stations for police officers. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}