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"id": 214791,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kamama",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Lands",
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"id": 165,
"legal_name": "Asman Abongutum Kamama",
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"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for granting me the opportunity to support the Motion on this Vote, which is so critical to the lives of Kenyans and our neighbours. July 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2463 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, first I want to congratulate the Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security, like my colleague did, for being very firm, decisive and consistent in dealing with insecurity issues in this country. We have heard a lot of criticisms from many quarters that the Ministry is not doing as much. However, let me tell you, and I want to quote this without fear of contradiction; that I have been a member of the Provincial Administration in the previous regime and I want to confirm that currently this Ministry is doing ten times better than we used to do. So, a lot of things have been done. I know the Minister has a lot of challenges like urban crime, terrorism threats, cross-border raids, cattle rustling that is very prevalent in our region, especially the pastoral regions, banditry and the recent development of Mungiki which is threatening the urban dwellers of this city. It is really a big issue which the Minister has been consistent on. However, I know he needs a lot of time to really get into the cells of these people. They are not very few in this city; they are many. There is the issue of proliferation of small arms, drug abuse and many other challenges. The Minister has performed very well, especially when it comes to the policy of the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI). Nowadays, when you go to the District Commissioners'(DCs) offices, wananchi are given what we call \"red carpet reception\" and not the red tape that we were used to. This is very much in line with His Excellency the President's Vision 2030. So, people are given \"red carpet reception\". In fact, you will get two Administration Police Officers (APs) at the customer-care desk. I even think wananchi are being saluted. So, they are really very happy that they are getting good services this time round. I would also like to thank the Minister for creating new districts, especially in the pastoral regions in order to take development closer to the people and also to address issues of insecurity. There are many challenges, but I want to report to the House that with regard to the issue of the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) who was killed in my constituency a week ago, wananchi arrested the person who killed the OCS yesterday and he is, right now, in custody. I think he is going to face justice. The issue of creating new districts came with many challenges. First, I want to ask the Minister to post Officers Commanding Police Divisions (OCPDs) as a matter of priority. The DCs are there, but the OCPDs should be posted there so that they can address insecurity concerns in those particular districts. However, there is also another policy that was introduced by the Directorate of Personnel Management (DPM). The issue of saying that newly appointed chiefs should have better qualifications. They are saying that chiefs should have obtained a C+ (Plus) in their KCSE Examinations, or a diploma certificate and must be over 35 years. You cannot get people with those qualifications in the pastoral regions. The Ministry was over ambitious when it came up with this policy. Right now, the Ministry is going to re-advertise and re-advertise again for two years, but it will not get people with those qualifications. People with diploma certificates in those areas have jobs and so they are not jobless. So, the Ministry needs to reduce the age to 30 years and then the minimum qualifications should be Standard Eight or, perhaps, Form Four with a D (Plain) and above. That is the reality on the ground. I think the DCs from those regions were not consulted. They just got views from DCs from places like Kiambu, Machakos and other places which are developed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Ministry for building houses for the police and increasing their salaries. They are very highly motivated this time, but we need to do something about their risk allowance. When police officers are shot at or killed in the line of duty, we need to have a minimum amount of money, say, Kshs300,000 to Kshs500,000 that should be given to the families of the deceased officers. I have seen the families of these officers suffer having been a very young commander of APs. The training of chiefs has really transformed them, but I want to deny the allegation by 2464 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 11, 2007 some friends of ours in the Opposition that these people are being drilled and that they are being given some propaganda to support the Government. Any sensible person in this country will have to support this system. It is the best system I have ever seen. During Kenyatta's time, I was in primary school and during Moi's time, you all know what was there. This is the best system, and I am very confident that Kenyans will vote back this Government come the next General Election. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of equipping the police with modern equipment is an issue that needs to be addressed. We have a lot of problems, especially within the Suguta Corridor, the upper parts of Eastern Province and North Eastern Province. Information does not flow the way it should because of the challenges of the terrain and so on. So, we need to improve the communication system for the police. We should start by actually buying them vehicles. If you go to places where insecurity is so high like Turkana, Baringo and Pokot--- My OCS does not even have a vehicle and yet these are very dangerous areas which should be looked into. Recently, I made some impromptu calls. I called Vigilance House, but I could not access it. You cannot access Vigilance House! I think their switch board is dead. If you are doubting, get into the next office and call Vigilance House. You will not access it. I tried about four to five hotlines in this town, but I could not access them. I tried calling hotlines for Langata, Kabete, Kasarani and other police stations, but they were not working. Let us do something about police hotlines. If you want to address the issue of Mungiki let us make the police hotlines work for 24 hours. Let us also make Vigilance House accessible to Kenyans. We have our officers here so, when you get out of here, try calling Vigilance House and those other hotlines. You will find that 80 per cent of them are not working. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in a bid to address the issue of urban crime, I want us also to introduce Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTVs) in most of our urban centres like Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, and mainly in this town. If we do not do that, it is going to be hard to track criminals in this town. On the whole, the Ministry should be supported. It should be given a lot of money. When we shall be discussing the Supplementary Estimates, we should give them extra funds to make them as efficient as possible. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}