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"id": 226816,
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"speaker_name": "Ms. Abdalla",
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"speaker": {
"id": 245,
"legal_name": "Abdallah Jumaa Ngozi",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the laws to govern drug use and drug abuse exist but the problem is enforcement. Further, the activities of those agencies involved in the control of drugs are so haphazard that should there be any international information on a drug haul heading to Kenya, there is no one single institution that can receive that information. For example, it is in the public domain that regarding the famous Kshs6.4 billion cocaine haul that was captured, the 530 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 11, 2007 information had gone to one agency, the Interpol, who did not share it with the Immigration Department. In the process, those containers were cleared and had to be followed to where they were eventually captured. So, that international dimension of dealing with drug control has not been dealt with. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to be very brief and highlight what this Authority would be doing that is not being done at the moment. The first area is that the Authority would be working to ensure that there is information on the different legislations that exist and which are related to drug control and abuse. In that area, it is going to deal with matters of supply and demand reduction. This is partly what we hope will increase the number of Kenyans who are aware of the different legislation that they would be breaching if they were caught trafficking drugs. That is the area of ensuring that the laws are known by everybody and that where there are gaps, they would be filled through research and lobbying so that the laws would be covered. The other area that has been well covered by NACADA is the area of preventive education and public awareness. I think that, that should be strengthened so that we are able to make the public more aware of the situation. As I had mentioned earlier on, with regard to the area of international relations and liaison, Kenya has not been pro-active in their co-operation with international bodies dealing with drugs. All we do is to wait to be told that there is something that is going to pass through your porous borders, airports or seaports. We are not pro-active and that cannot be undertaken by a mere agency in the Office of the President without a legal backing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other area that is really wanting is the area of treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics, drug addicts and others. Drug use is a serious and very big business in this country. Treatment is also becoming big business. But, the abuse of drugs is not confined to those who can afford treatment. Our Government has not been able to develop treatment centres for our youth who are being destroyed by drugs. Recently, I heard that Mathare Mental Hospital has a rehabilitation centre. My knowledge of the drug users who have been going to Mathare Mental Hospital from Eastlands is that they reach the stage of going to Mathare Mental Hospital when they are beyond help. Most of them are treated as mental cases. The situation in the coast region is that many Community Based Organisations (CBOs) or Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are establishing rehabilitation centres that do not have formal and acceptable rehabilitation strategies to use on the users. So, in the end, we have a lot of people dying from addiction related symptoms that they would not have otherwise gone through if those rehabilitation centres were formalised and given support so that they could use the right mechanisms to assist the addicts. As I mentioned earlier, there are 13 institutions working in this sector. All of them work in isolation. So, the issue of working on controlling drug abuse in the country is everybody's business, yet nobody is responsible for that business. So, it is nobody's business. This research, policy development and training would, for example, look at the national drug control policy that is in existence, but which very few people know of, and would be able to convert them into training models that would assist those working in the sector. For example, our researchers in our public universities have done a commendable job of researching into the prevalence of drug abuse throughout the country. They have, for example, shown that the situation that was only an urban phenomenon is now wide spread in the rural areas, and that is why you have situations in Murang'a and other places where young men are not productive any more, because of abusing some new forms of alcohol that is very potent. Therefore, this component will assist in an area that we have been working in, in isolation. The researchers in the universities are filling shelves with information that we should be turning into policy and action plans, but we are not doing so. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other area is publication and reporting. As I April 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 531 mentioned, a lot of the research that has been done may not be in a form that is accessible. We need to change it into reports and publications that are more palatable to the general public for them to understand and assist us in addressing the problem. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we will also be looking at the issue of the structure of this authority. Because drugs are big business, the dealers have big pockets into which they put people. It is for us to ensure that the people who will manage this authority will be people of high integrity. We will be proposing in that Bill that the persons charged with dealing with the management of the authority should be people who have been vetted by this House, so that we are able to increase credibility in this area. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, besides making sure that the board is one that is manned by highly trustworthy people, we will further be urging the House to look for a way of ensuring that the independence of that body is secured through increasing the possibility of it getting funding probably directly from the Consolidated Fund. The issue of co-ordination is extremely serious, in that there is some legislation that has been passed calling for bodies that would assist in the fight against drug abuse. Some of it calls for a board that would look into the modules and programmes that drug rehabilitation centres should cover. Such a board was supposed to be established through the Ministry of Health. It has not been established for over six years since that legislation was passed by the House. Those are some of the things that we are hoping will change the face of the drug problem in our country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, since I mentioned that the Motion today is just seeking leave to allow me to bring a Private Member's Bill for creation of the proposed authority I wish to end there and ask my colleague, the hon. Syongo, to second the Motion. I beg to move."
}