HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 225420,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/225420/?format=api",
"text_counter": 143,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Abdalla",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 245,
"legal_name": "Abdallah Jumaa Ngozi",
"slug": "abdallah-ngozi"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to reply. First, I would like to thank all my colleagues who have stood here in support of the Motion, including the Government responder who has shown that the Government has identified and accepted that the issues of drug abuse have reached such a level that serious action needs to be taken. The problem of drug use and abuse in this country cuts across all social classes, religions and races. It ranges from the glue-sniffing street child to the cocaine-injecting high class person wherever they are. This is an issue that cuts across all the social classes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the youngest person under rehabilitation is said to be an eight year old person. So, the problem of drugs is actually affecting the core of our society and destroying the future of our country. It is in this light that I would like to urge all hon. Members to vote for this Motion and to take this opportunity to respond to some of the issues that were raised by some of the speakers. Mr. Khamasi mentioned that the legislations are in existence but it is the reinforcement that is not taking place. True, that is the case but because of the growth of the drug industry and abuse situation in our country, the laws are inadequate. We do not have a one-stop shop for any person purely responsible for looking at the laws and reviewing them in order to strengthen them to be in line with the strength at which the drug situation is at the moment. Mr. Kembi-Gitura has given a good example where Kshs3,000 used to be a lot of money in the 1960s to be given as a fine. It no longer is today. There is more money in the drug business than the money being imposed as fines. So, the need for a statutory body that will be able to co-ordinate and ensure effective and efficient enforcement of laws is long overdue. It would, for example, be able to facilitate the review of laws so that drug peddlers and traffickers could have more stiffer penalties such as death which would then deter people. We see our media giving attention to Kenyans who have been arrested in South East Asia. However, we hear nothing in our neighbouring countries where some of their nationals are arrested in Kenya because the penalties are not that punitive. So, this body would be able to facilitate the review of these laws that would then make it more punitive for somebody to engage in this business. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it costs Kshs250,000 for a six-week programme in a rehabilitation centre that is said to be not a high class rehabilitation centre. An amount of Kshs250,000 is the annual school fees for over six children undergoing university education in Kenya. That is well above the reach of most Kenyans. To add insult to injury, nobody regulates the programmes that are being carried out in those rehabilitation centres. The quality is not of any known standard and the qualifications of those running those programmes are not monitored by anyone. So, this statutory body would be able to facilitate the licensing, effective monitoring and quality assurance of the rehabilitation centres that we are calling for. Many of the hon. Members who have spoken have praised the work that has so far been done by the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA). In fact, Eng. 700 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 18, 2007 Toro suggested that we build from the known so that we do not look like we are starting afresh. I would like to assure hon. Members that the statutory body that we are proposing will have one of the activities being the campaign against drug abuse which is what NACADA has been mandated for. We will have the activities of the NACADA included within this statutory body. I hope that, that will allay any fears that people have that the good work that NACADA has been doing on increasing awareness on the issues of drug abuse will be ignored. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this statutory body will have one aspect that NACADA does not have, which is the legal backing; that is, it is within our laws and we have to adhere to them. Secondly, because the proposed law will be calling for the recruitment through a vetting process of a Kenyan of high integrity, we will not be having situations where the programmes and the public face of the drug fighting agency is based on an individual. It would be based on the legal framework which will also be calling for the reporting, by that agency, to this House so that we get to know how far the fight against drug abuse has gone. Mr. ole Metito had mentioned that there is no sufficient data on the use of drugs. I wish to assure the House that the data is available. What is not available is the co-ordinating mechanism through which that data could be effectively used for policy formulation and further action. We have the data! Our universities are full of researchers handling different aspects of this problem. The only problem is that we did not have a centralised co-ordinating mechanism to do the same. Finally is the issue of international liaison. Whereas in the past we were dealing with drugs that did not require much work outside our country, now it is very essential in that we are not only a drug trafficking route but we are also a hard drug destination. So, there is need to liaise with international bodies working on this matter and other nationals who have information on matters pertaining to drugs that are destined to reach our country. This body will become a one-stop shop where if there is information from either our neighbouring countries or from other continents, that body will be informed and it will be able to liaise directly and have action taken very fast. The other issue is that for now, there is no responsible agency within our country to deal with the ratification of international conventions dealing with drug abuse and use. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to inform my colleagues, who did not get an opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion, that they will do so when The Drug and Substance Abuse Control Authority Bill will be brought before the House. With those few remarks, I beg to move."
}