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{
    "id": 398249,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/398249/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 384,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mohamed Diriye",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2995,
        "legal_name": "Diriye Abdullahi Mohamed",
        "slug": "diriye-abdullahi-mohamed"
    },
    "content": "could only improve their working conditions and their welfare, give them some allowances, uniforms and firearms, I am sure they will do wonders as the regular police officers. Honestly speaking, the ratio of the police to citizens in Kenya is way below the UN standards. I was in Australia last week and when you go out at night in the major cities, after five minutes, you will see a police patrol car. In those developed countries, when we talk of the ratio of the citizens to the police, it is very different from ours. For us to meet this shortfall of citizens to police ratio, one way in which we can bridge this gap is by having the KPRs. They will do wonders and they will meet the deficit and the shortfall we are having in terms of the police officers. In July, there was an attack in a place called Demajale in Dadaab Constituency and the officers present were few. They were overpowered by the Al Shabaab militia and the police collapsed every six officers into one unit. If they were less than ten or 15, they were collapsed into one unit. That made many of our villages vulnerable. As I speak, there are many villages and big settlements where people fight over petty things like water points. There are no police officers to keep law and order. If we have the KPRs, they will perform this function. Normally, in remote villages in far flung areas along the border, if you have about five KPRs who are trained, have uniforms, firearms and work in better conditions, they will keep law and order in those villages. But when there is no presence of the Government in these villages, there will be no law and order. You can imagine a village where there is not a chief or other Government officers particularly security officers, people will do anything. Criminals will even hide there. This is a way of improving not only security and order, but also protecting the citizens and making sure that the militias do not hide there. It is a way of making sure that the Government’s presence is felt all the way to the ground. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, cattle rustling is a form of insecurity. Insecurity has many manifestations. In Pokot or Samburu, it might be cattle rustling and in my place, it might be rogue militias who are highway robbers in the villages. The few KPRs who we already have on the ground, even under the very bad conditions that they work, without any allowances and uniforms, are doing a good job. They lack the basic things that they need to perform their duties, for example, some of them do not get the rounds of ammunition when they get depleted. They are the keepers of law and order in those remote areas. The only thing is that we should get proper guidance on how to recruit and remunerate them. I know that if that is done, they will do wonders in my area. I also wish to point out the issue of corruption among the County Police Commanders, particularly along the borders."
}