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"speaker_name": "Mr. Syongo",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. First of all, I want to thank the hon. Abdalla for giving me the opportunity to second this Motion. Secondly, I want to say that the substances that we are talking about can, broadly speaking, be categorised into illegal and legal ones. But whether they are legal drugs and substances or illegal, the effect of their consumption is the same, in the sense that they are all destructive to the mind and the body. The only difference is the intensity and the time it takes a particular type, whether legal or not, to destroy and get the consumer addicted to it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to say also that, indeed, no country in the whole world has been able to actually ban the production and consumption of some of these drugs and substances. Even the mightiest nation in the world, the USA, has completely failed to completely stop the production and consumption of drugs and substances. So, obviously, we want to dismiss the possibility of anybody thinking that we are aiming at stopping the production and consumption of drugs. A young country like Kenya cannot succeed where a big nation like the USA has failed. The focus, therefore, of the proposed Bill will be on the control, regulation and management of the production, distribution and consumption, including advertising or publicising, this particular category of products. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to say that some of these products, dangerous as they are, are actually used in our societies for cultural reasons. In many of our communities alcohol, for example, is used at weddings, circumcision ceremonies and so on. So, they are actually used in certain areas in a controlled manner for cultural reasons. Some are also even used for medical reasons. But the real problem is the abusive use of these products. That will be the focus of the intended Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when Parliament enacts a good piece of legislation, and it is implemented, it works to achieve its intended objective. The hon. Abdalla has just alluded 532 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 11, 2007 to the amendment under the Weights and Measures Act, which I was privileged to move in this House about 18 months ago, just increasing the minimum pack size of alcoholic beverages sachets from the sachets of 50 and 100 millilitres to 250 millilitres in non-collapsible containers. This has drastically reduced the abuse of alcohol by school children. Teachers are now able to detect when children have them, because they cannot hide them in their socks and under their exercise books as they used to. Even parents are able to detect when their children have these products. I want to urge this House, therefore, that we look at this intended Bill positively. In fact, if it is prepared properly, passed and implemented, it can achieve the intended purpose, which is to control and manage the production and use of these products. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these products, including alcohol and tobacco, have three unique characteristics. First of all, unlike any other product, they actually alter the state of the mind of the consumer almost instantaneously. There lies the first danger of these products. Secondly, they destroy very vital organs of the human body, including the liver, the lungs and the brain. In many cases, they actually even render men impotent and women frigid, thereby going against the basic call of nature, which is, as God commanded, that we produce and fill the world with His good creations. The third characteristic is that their consumption actually leads to addiction. Hardly any other product does that. You only need water when you are thirsty. But use of this particular category of products actually leads to addiction. So, by actually encouraging their consumption, in some cases for just about three months, the user becomes a prisoner of these products, and a prisoner, therefore, of the supplier of these products. It is terrible for anybody to be a prisoner of another person. Consequently, we have seen, as hon. Abdalla has indicated, serious behaviourial change in the consumers of these products. The many road accidents we now have in this country are, in fact, largely attributed to alcohol abuse, and to abuse of other substances such as bhang, heroine and so on. Consumption of these drugs impairs the judgement of their users. The high rates of domestic violence, rape and even incest are largely traced to abuse or consumption of those products. The crime rate and the reckless use of small arms - hardly a day passes by before we hear somebody has been carjacked and shot for no apparent reason. No human being enjoys killing another human being. Some of those criminals are very young children. They kill because they cannot make good judgement. There is also the issue of irresponsible sexual behaviour that was alluded to, and the destruction of the very vital organs of the human body. Those are very serious matters. This House, therefore, cannot ignore its responsibility. It has a responsibility to society. This country, on average, invests between 35 per cent and 40 per cent of its total annual revenue, both at the family level and the Government level, on the education and development of the human resource for this country. As a result, we are now seeing an increasing number of Kenyans going to work abroad and earning this country enormous amounts of foreign exchange. We are also becoming a centre of excellence on knowledge-based industries. That is because of the investment that we are putting on the human resource of this country. But unless we manage the consumption of drugs and substances, all those investments will be reversed completely, if not cancelled altogether. Here lies a very significant danger that we must address through this proposed Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, why an Authority and an Act of Parliament? We need an Authority and an Act of Parliament to co-ordinate what has already been set. There are various Acts which need to be harmonised to spearhead proper implementation and monitoring as required by the law. More so, the suppliers, including producers of those products, are extremely powerful institutions. Those who manage them are extremely powerful individuals. We need an Authority which is established by an Act of Parliament, with commensurate resources and legal backing, in April 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 533 order to match and counter the suppliers and manufacturers of those drugs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I urge this House to look at this issue in that context, and support this Motion. That way, we can, in the shortest time possible, bring a Bill that will help this nation to regulate and manage the production, distribution, advertising as well as subsequent consequences of drug consumption and abuse. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to second."
}