Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 382280,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/382280/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 177,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Government to urgently institute special road projects by designing and establishing road networks that will facilitate connectivity and mobility of rapid response teams across the security hotspots including urban informal settlements, arid and semi-arid areas and known disaster zones. Madam Temporary Speaker, this Motion is very clear as far as I am concerned. I am sure Senators will look at it keenly and see the intention and the spirit which brought it forward. This country has been having a lot of problems in terms of insecurity and unless we change our strategies to deal with the situation, I see no end to this problem. The importance of security in the development of our nation cannot be over-emphasized. This is because it is only through security that economic stability can be achieved. If there is no security, domestic and foreign investments cannot be achieved. The initiative that the Government is making now following the new Constitution to reform the police is welcome. However, I think there is need for us to start now advising the new National Police Service Commission (NPSC) to try and change their strategies and attitudes towards maintaining security. If you look at the past, the police have been chasing criminals, but they do not have clear ways of detecting and discovering crime before it is committed. That is the only way to deal with the situation of this nature. Looking at this year’s Budget for the police, they have been allocated about Kshs67 billion to cater for general operation and improvement; Kshs4.4 billion for equipment; Kshs4.5 billion to enhance operations and Kshs1.5 billion for research. That is the most important part. I hope that this money for research will be used effectively to make sure that we are aware of crimes before they are committed and we are capable of stopping them. The problem today is that the public’s work is to inform the police that crime has been committed. There is no time when the police will come to the people and inform them to be careful because a crime might be committed at a certain time. In some countries in the world where security operators do nothing other than security, they are capable of detecting and even knowing in advance what will happen. The department of Special Branch, the philosophy and the spirit of it when it started, although it is a very old sector--- the whole idea was to make sure that they discover crime before it is committed. In this country, they built a new kind of idea in Africa where they only followed political crimes because those in power feared to be overthrown. Therefore, they spent a lot of money to sustain themselves in power. That way, other minor crimes were forgotten. What was more important for the successive governments was the sustainment of the president in power and, also by extension, his government. Therefore, a lot of money has been spent, although there is no security threat, through the Special Branch. I think today, the world has changed and people have gained freedom. There is democracy. Therefore, you do not need Special Branch to investigate for politicians because now the politicians are left to be handled by the public itself. That is the essence of democracy. Madam Temporary Speaker, I believe and I think that the Kshs1.5 billion should be spent to deal with crimes. The other point is about traditional ways of fighting crime which have to be changed if you want to be relevant in a modern world. The only way we can do that is that we must always be guided by the ability to contain the spread of crimes and be able to understand in advance that crime is about to be committed. We must always be ready for potential crimes. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}