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"id": 226828,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/226828/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Munya",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the President",
"speaker": {
"id": 279,
"legal_name": "Joseph Konzolo Munyao",
"slug": "joseph-munyao"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as the Mover pointed out, we have many institutions which are involved in the fight against drugs but, because of lack of a legal framework, their activities are not well co-ordinated and synergised, so that we can have the best effects from the war against drug abuse. The National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA), which is a body within our Ministry, mainly deals with education against the use of drugs and substance abuse. It mainly co-ordinates a national campaign to educate the youth on the problems of drugs and the need not to get involved in drug abuse. It is also involved in policy formulation. Right now, the agency is busy working on a Sessional Paper on drug use and abuse. Right now, it is in a workshop, whose intention is to come up with a Sessional Paper that will make the policy on drugs clearer than it is now. Due to lack of a legal framework, NACADA does not have the teeth that it requires to bite properly, and be able to deal with the challenge of drugs. The Police, Immigration, Customs and Judicial Departments, deal mainly with the legal aspects, when crime has already been committed. You only see the Police and Immigration Departments come in when people have brought in drugs. The Judiciary comes in when criminals are taken to court. So, we do not have the preventive aspect in dealing with drugs to ensure that they do not get into the country, get released to young people and mess them up. This is the aspect we now want to strengthen. As I have said, the main challenges we are facing include lack of a legal framework through which to strengthen NACADA and give it power to co-ordinate the war against drug abuse. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the law should clearly categorise drugs and name all the things that we call drugs. Even medicinal substances that have medical value should also be defined and named in the new law. That way, we will know how to handle them. We will know what to do when they are misused. That is when they are not used for intended purposes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need to subscribe higher penalties for drug dealers and those who bring drugs into this country. If you go to countries like Malaysia and 538 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 11, 2007 Singapore, possession of drugs is a capital offence. They identified drugs as one of the biggest challenges to their national security and made it a capital offence. Anybody found with drugs knows that he or she will be hanged. We need stiffer penalties because our legal framework is still weak to deal with offenders. The real problem is not the young people who are lured into it. Those are just victims. Victims are not supposed to be taken to jail. They are supposed to be rehabilitated. So, we need stronger penalties to deal with people who make money from drugs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other challenge that we are facing is the rehabilitation of victims. We do not have institutions that are set up and supported by the Government to rehabilitate drug victims. The victims are left on their own to make private arrangements. Those victims who are poor and cannot afford to pay those expensive institutions involved in rehabilitation are left to die on their own. So, even if we go on with education and campaigns, if we do not have national institutions to rehabilitate the youth and bring them back to society, we will not succeed. We should have a follow-up programme to ensure that victims do not go back to drug abuse. The temptation to go back is always there. There must be some institutions to follow them up and ensure that they are fully rehabilitated. That is the only way we can win the war against drugs. We need to put more money there. We also need national institutions that are publicly funded by the Government to deal with drug abuse. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need to deal with the cultural issue of tolerance. There are some cultures that tolerate drugs. Some societies even treat marijuana as a good substance to use. So, we need to deal with such aspects to ensure that our cultures do not tolerate drugs. That way, we will see drugs as the real enemy of our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need to deal with corruption. Many drug dealers have a lot of money. They influence the Judiciary. They get off with very weak penalties. There are a lot of rumours - and, sometimes, rumours are true - that there are people in the Judiciary and the business community who are \"stinking\" rich! We all know that the source of their money is drugs. We see magistrates who become rich overnight! Where do they get that money when their salaries are very low? Judges are becoming multi-millionaires! Where do they get all that money? Big houses are coming up! That is drugs money. Those riches are fuelled by drug money. We need to address that issue. That is why the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) needs \"teeth\", so that it can identify the sources of corruption within the Judiciary, Police force, Customs Department, Immigration Department and deal with loopholes that let drugs in. We also need NACADA to co-ordinate the international effort to fight drug abuse, so that we cut it at the supply level. Demand, actually, increases supply. So, if we rehabilitate the youth and stop them from taking drugs, we will bring the supply down. If you bring down supply--- Drugs come from other countries. In fact, Kenya is mainly used as transit point. Drugs come from countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Columbia and even richer and industrialised countries in North America and Europe. So, if we can launch an international effort and fight drugs where they come from, the demand will also go down. If you deal with supply, demand goes down. If you deal with demand, supply also goes down. There will be nobody to buy them. If we do that, we will be able to fight that big menace called drugs, which is a big business in the world these days. We know that money injected through drugs can even subvert a national economy. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}