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{
    "id": 331904,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/331904/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 257,
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    "content": "Hon. Odhiambo-Mabona talked about the ethnicity of those who have been taken to court and charged. First of all, I have said that it is not one community which is being targeted; I am very sincere and I mean it. It is good to note that the Baragoi problem is happening within one constituency, namely Samburu West Constituency. Samburu North District is within the Samburu West Constituency. The area is inhabited mostly by the Turkanas and the Samburus, who are all pastoralists. When giving my Statement, I said that there have been raids and counter-raids by both sides. It is a historical thing and that is why I will agree with one Member who asked how we can deal with this problem once and for all. It is not one community that is targeted. This incident is happening when the Turkanas had raided the Samburus. Otherwise, a month or two months ago, there were raids from both sides. It is in public domain that all along, the Samburus raid the Turkanas and the Turkanas raid the Samburus. I can assure the Member and the House at large that no community is being targeted. Hon. Njuguna has asked what help the Government is giving to the families of the deceased officers. First of all, it may need a long-term plan for us to do something for our police officers in terms of long-term insurance cover and benefits. In this case, we have assisted the families in burial expenses. We also provided each family with Kshs50,000 after the burial. That is not enough, but it just came out administratively because there is not much that has been done for the police in terms of insurance cover and other benefits to their families. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this brings us to what hon. Keynan was asking; the long term plan for our police. I think this lies in the full implementation of the Ransley Report that has recommended a lot for both the security agencies in terms of enhancing our security and also enhancing their welfare. The implementation of the Ransley Report requires a lot of money and I am happy this Parliament now has the role of making the budget. I presented this yesterday to the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security. The Ransley Report recommended that the police must be provided with enough vehicles and those which are there must be maintained well. They need to be provided with aircraft that can maneuver many areas, specialized fighting equipment, enhanced training and salaries, housing and other welfare issues. Those are some of the things that the Ransley Report indicated that might help in assisting our police officers. Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Letimalo asked why it has taken a long time since 19th October to 9th September when this operation was launched. I want to say that it has taken long because this is a historical thing that happens from both sides of the communities and where traditional mechanisms of peace and reconciliation have been used in the past. So, in that duration; from 19th October to 9th September, the leaders agreed to return those stolen livestock through traditional peaceful mechanisms. In that way, 44 of them were returned. That is why we have taken a long time. On whether we will recover these livestock and the progress made so far, I want to say that at the moment, none of them has been recovered but we are hopeful that we will recover them. Thank you."
}