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{
    "id": 395095,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/395095/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 236,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Hargura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 827,
        "legal_name": "Godana Hargura",
        "slug": "godana-hargura"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I rise to support the Motion as amended, because I believe that the amendment makes it clearer and more inclusive. Madam Temporary Speaker, the issue at hand affects Kenyans who, out of the situation they were in at that particular time, without even knowing what that meant to them, chose whether to stay hungry in their villages or go to a camp which had been opened, where there were many humanitarian organizations. Maybe, they did not even think about how that would affect their nationality. They just saw it as a way out on that particular day. The situation was attractive at that time. I even know of cases of Kenyans who were within the urban areas and actually went and registered for the purpose of accessing resettlement in other countries. That is why they are many Somalis of Kenyan origin in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, who made use of that situation. Maybe even by then whoever was carrying out that exercise were not keen enough, because it was easy, even from their language, to know that they were Kenyans. They accepted them and now the question is: What happens to the children of those people? Their parents went to these camps, because they thought that, that was their way out at that particular time. Now they have children who were born in a refugee camp, but in Kenya and want to access the Kenyan education system and get Kenyan registration. If they want to be registered, they will be told to bring their parents’ documents. Madam Temporary Speaker, I think that the issue is what Sen. Kajwang said; that there is a database where these people have been captured as refugees and that is the hindrance. That is where things have to be brought out. That is the data which needs to be checked. It should not be taken as the gospel truth; that if you are in that database as a refugee, then you cannot argue your case out that you are a Kenyan. That is the data which needs to be revised and checked. Those Kenyans who ended up in that database because they thought that it was better for them at that time to go into the camps, need to be sorted out. That database needs to be checked and that is where maybe investigation needs to be done and those people registered afresh. Their names can be removed from the refugee database so long as there is proof. Sen. Haji said that they even hold the old identity cards. If they have the old identity cards, the place where they came from can easily be traced. It can be confirmed from those areas that these are actually Kenyans who went to the camps and they can be registered afresh as Kenyans. Particularly, I am talking about the children because those are the people who are affected and yet they did not choose to end up in the camps, in the first place. Madam Temporary Speaker, for the sake of having those Kenyans enjoy their rights and as the amendment suggests, we need to thoroughly vet all persons by going through the database of refugees. Even if their fingerprints have been captured there, they need to be reintegrated back into the normal citizenry where they belong. Also, regarding 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."
}