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{
    "id": 382417,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/382417/?format=api",
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    "content": "talking about their livelihoods and their property, especially livestock. It is important to note that even most of the speakers who have spoken here are Senators from arid or areas which experience cattle rustling or perennial raids. We know for a fact that poor infrastructure has been the greatest contributor to the prevention, rescuing of people and foiling some of these planned attacks. There are times that we know for a fact that a week before a raid is done, 100 or 50 young men would be meeting somewhere to eat a goat or a bull before they go for a raid. Even the raiders themselves know that they have to go somewhere where it is impossible to reach them. These are areas where they know there are no roads. If the intelligence personnel get that information, then it is easier to reach those areas and probably foil some of these planned raids. Madam Temporary Speaker, we also know that in terms of rescue, Sen. Mbula has just said here, that sometimes when a raid happens, people are injured and if they could get access to hospitals or to treatment, then their lives could be saved. But there are scenarios where people are reached a week or two weeks later. Fifty years after Independence, there are Kenyans who live in areas which are totally inaccessible. This is not something that we can be proud of as a nation. We also know that there are roads which just come up because vehicles keep on using them until something like a road appears but it takes a big land cruiser to drive there. We know that even our police do not have vehicles. I know various Officers Commanding Police Divisions (OCPDs) and Officers Commanding Stations (OCSs) who are in these areas and they have no vehicles there. So, I hope that as the Jubilee Government, we will keep our promise to ensure that these vehicles are distributed to various security personnel in various part of the country and even roads and other infrastructure will be opened up. Madam Temporary Speaker, in areas where poaching takes place, there is poor infrastructure. We are losing elephants everyday and the poachers know that we will not get them. It will take you long to get where poachers are. So, it is not only our lives which are under threat but also our economy because if we continue losing our wildlife to poaching and then definitely as a country, we will lose. There is also the issue of carjacking and highway banditry. We know the slower the vehicle moves, the easier for the criminals to come and terrorize you for a whole hour or even two hours because the road is bad and no vehicles will pass there. Definitely, they will know that it is easier for them to steal and also to terrorize travellers. It is not only roads that are a problem but even the communication network. It is not understandable why some areas in this country do not have network coverage. The Ministry of Information Communications and Technology should work with the network providers because if we have a network in these insecurity prone areas, then people will be able to send a signal and ask for rescue. Looking at places like Busia and border areas like the Port of Victoria along the Kenya-Uganda border, criminals just cross to the other country and you will not find them until they come back again. So, it is important that we really look into opening areas like those. We cannot just keep on having areas which were there since the colonial era. It is time that we opened up different areas of our country. Finally, even as we set up other towns, the governors and the county assemblies who will be deciding where the headquarters will be, I propose that before anything is put up, just like in other developed countries, we first put up infrastructure. We should have 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."
}