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{
    "id": 273481,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/273481/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 349,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Maj. Sugow",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for Public Service",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 142,
        "legal_name": "Aden Ahmed Sugow",
        "slug": "aden-sugow"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Member for Kamukunji for moving this very important Motion for Adjournment to discuss this very important national security issue. I would like to also take this opportunity to join my colleagues in sending a message of condolences to the bereaved families and friends of the departed Kenyans, and wish those who are still in hospital quick recovery. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we continue losing lives across the country as a result of the problems we face with our neighbouring nation. When incidents happen deep inside Kenya, away from the borders, generally it is an indication of what we are doing along the borders in order to contain the entry into the country of these bad people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my constituency is one of the constituencies that hosts refugees. Fafi Constituency hosts more than 150,000 refugees. They are haphazardly settled in a camp that was meant for only 30,000 people. They have spilled over and are occupying areas together with Kenyans. You cannot tell who is who. Today, some of the areas that are meant for registration of identity cards; the locational or sub- locational headquarters have become centres of refugees. Unless the Government comes up with a strategy in the interim, pending the hope that we are going to move the refugees back to their country, to try and decongest some of these camps and put refuges away from our settled areas, there is this danger of having refugees mingling with our locals and, therefore, risking our security as a nation. We always wonder how these people come in, but once they are mixed and settled with our people, it is very difficult to tell how they came in. Therefore there is need to look further and find out the sources of these elements. As much as I agree that these criminal elements are actually now across the spectrum of Kenyans in terms of identity, it is also clear that the origin is North Eastern Province and those areas where refugees are hosted. The Government must, therefore, pay particular attention to how the refugees are managed. We seem to have lost that particular aspect. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue is the treatment of Kenyans and the refugees who are here. We must handle matters in such a way that we do not play into the hands of Al Shabaab and get ready recruits. There are quite a number of young men who are idle in refugee camps. It is good for the Government to dialogue with the UNHCR and other agencies in order to come up with strategies to commit these youth rather than harassing them when an incident occurs in those areas. Many of these refugees, earlier in the days when incidences were taking place in Fafi, the police were indiscriminately arresting refugees and local Kenyans. For Kenyans, they have nowhere to go but for the refugees the young men will trek back to Somalia and probably end up joining Al Shabaab. It is kind of shooting oneself in the foot. It is very important that we handle the refugees carefully so that we do not antagonize and provide ready recruits for"
}