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{
    "id": 396719,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/396719/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 167,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "You will recall the answer that was given recently by the Chairman of the Committee for Health, Labour and Social Welfare, Sen. (Dr.) Kuti. He said that this year, they had set aside Kshs2.7 billion or so, to roll out this programme of giving out some little compensation to elders or anyone who is aged. This is done because we respect our elderly. I will go further to say that we need to establish this. In the location I come from, Kanyarkwar in West Pokot County, we had problems, for a long time between us and the people of Trans Nzoia County and Uganda, Imbugwa. Five years ago, we sat and said why can we not identify and upgrade our village elders? We did that and decided to buy them uniform as a way of appreciating them. We asked them to choose their colours which should not be very far from those of the chiefs. They looked for the uniforms and shoes and we paid for them. Stealing of bicycles and chicken that used to happen on market days stopped. You can walk tall today, between the two communities up to Uganda, courtesy of these elders just because we bought them uniform. How much does a uniform cost? The uniforms cost us Kshs32,000 only, but brought us peace. Although they use the uniforms on particular days when they are going to administer order in particular areas, if we can all go this way, we would change things. This may not be the best way of doing things. It may seem to be a primitive way of doing things. However, which is the right way of doing things? What is better? Should we think about complicated ways of bringing peace in the Republic or using the structures that we have which we inherited? Since this is our African cultural heritage which we must not forget, we need to upgrade these people. The Kenyan Government should set aside funds so that village elders are identified through a procedure and trained. Even in your own county, there is a lot of training going on because of devolution. Some people have enjoyed flying all the way from Nairobi to Mombasa because training seems to be taking place there. The nominated members of county assemblies have been going for training. We have not been having this. We need to identify these people and train them depending on their personalised roles. One village may be different from another. Where I come between the border of West Pokot and Turkana, some petty cattle rustling takes place. Yesterday, however, a very major raid took place at Apuke. If these elders were identified, since they have mobile phones, they would have passed information to the District Commissioner. From the DC, the information would go to the County Commissioner and this problem would end because we would act on it. These are the people who stay in the villages. If we tell them that some boys are disturbing us, they will move in to allay and close that chapter. This is one case that demonstrates the need to go back to our grassroots level. I do not know whether we have had this kind of arrangement before. However, considering the suffering we are going through today, we need to establish such a system. Yesterday, in Uasin Gishu County, the Deputy President talked to people because there has been some kind of insecurity in the county. Suppose elders were upgraded and identified; we would be dealing with them. The ones I have in Kanyarkwar have their own leader who coordinates. He is referred to as a senior mzee wa mtaa . This is even printed on their shirts to distinguish them from the rest. They also carry identification tags that show who they are. This can go a long way. We can spread this across. This 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."
}