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"id": 243931,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Serut",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 297,
"legal_name": "John Bomet Serut",
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the Vote of the Office of the President for the following reasons:- Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, first of all, it is a service Ministry in the sense that, if it fails to deliver services to Kenyans, there would be a lot of insecurity. We cannot afford to live in a state of insecurity. Even if the Minister in charge has committed any crime, Kenyans should not be denied security. Kenyans need security. By opposing this Motion, it translates into denying Kenyans security. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to congratulate that Ministry for the following reasons: It has improved the image of the police force through reforms. If you go to a police station today, you are handled as a human being. I also congratulate that Ministry for undertaking reforms in the Administration. The administrators, starting from the Provincial Commissioners (PCs) down to assistant chiefs, have changed. Their attitude towards Kenyans has tremendously changed. When an hon. Member stands in this House and says the Minister should apologise to Kenyans, I think he is mistaken. If we want him to do so, we can ask him, maybe through a censorship Motion in this House, but not when we want to pass the Vote of the Ministry for purposes of improving services. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to congratulate the Ministry for the vehicles that it has provided to the police force. In every corner of this country, there is, at least, a serviceable vehicle to provide services to Kenyans. However, I would urge that the Ministry goes ahead to ensure that it provides new vehicles to the rural areas because most roads are impassable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, an hon. Member talked of internal conflicts. If there are any internal conflicts in this country, they are artificial. These conflicts are caused by hon. Members in this House who, every weekend, either become professional funeral hecklers, or move from one constituency to the other in the name of seeking presidential votes. I think it is not yet time for the general elections. Let hon. Members concentrate on development and wait for the general elections, and see if Kenyans would want an agenda of internal conflicts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, before undertaking anything, I think there is normally what we call \"needs assessment.\" What we should be doing as hon. Members is to look at the success and failures of the Office of the President. Where it has failed, we should be able to point it out. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if need arises, there should be a policy change. This Ministry is receiving over Kshs29 billion. Out of this, only Kshs6 billion will go towards development. Out of the Kshs6 billion, Kshs1.8 billion will go towards housing for the police. I wish Kshs26 billion went to housing projects for the police. If you go to Pangani Police Station, for example, you will sympathise with the police officers who are living in those houses. I want also to congratulate the Office of the President for having improved the salaries of the police force, including the Provincial Administration. They are now able to feed themselves comfortably up to the end of the month. The police force has also improved in terms of reduction in corruption. The entire Office of the President could have been rated number one when it comes to corruption, but I realise in my constituency that there is a tremendous reduction in the number of corruption cases which are reported to me, as the area Member of Parliament. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about rent in Kibera. We all know that it is in public domain that some hon. Members of this House have been inciting the residents of Kibera not to pay rent. That alone becomes insecurity! The Minister in charge of Internal Security, therefore, has a right to intervene. I want to urge that anybody who incites tenants not to pay rent, 1960 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 11, 2006 should be arrested, whether he is a Minister or Member of Parliament. We are not in a political rally so as to heckle one another. We will all have time to speak our mind. The Office of the President has decided to keep the Government Printer which is a central institution. It serves all the Ministries. Therefore, I do not understand why this particular institution is housed in the Office of the President. I want to propose that the Government Printer be made a semi-autonomous institution for purposes of serving all the Ministries, instead of it being managed from the Office of the President. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about errant police officers. Whereas I congratulate the Ministry for the reforms in the police force, I would like to urge that when cases of errant police officers are reported, especially in the rural areas, prompt action should be taken against them, so that the public have confidence in the Government. There are a few cases that I have noted in my constituency, where police officers commit crimes, but, at the end of the day, the public does not see prompt action being taken against them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there was a recent case where police officers broke into houses and took away television sets. They were arrested while in possession of the television sets, but I was shocked to learn that an inquiry into the case is being conducted. What inquiry do we actually conduct on a police officer who has broken into a house and stolen a television set, and he is found in possession of it? He should be charged for breaking into the house, with an alternative charge of being in possession of a stolen television set! There is also the issue of the transfer of police officers. I want to speak specifically about Mt. Elgon District. Whenever a police officer becomes an errant elsewhere, Mt. Elgon has become a dumping district. I want to request that errant police officers should not be transferred from one station to another. They should be sacked. That will serve as a lesson to other police officers, and we will end up with a disciplined police force. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}