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{
    "id": 401839,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/401839/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 293,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "and then left. Incidents like these ones happen every time, not only in Kiambu, but the entire country. We have several cases in point which speak for themselves. What will happen when a well informed and properly trained civilian is armed to protect himself? Before the last general elections, I had a very sad episode in my county where thugs broke into a home. They found a father and his three daughters. They wanted to rape the daughters in front of their father. The father told them they could not rape his daughters as he was watching. So, they gave him an option either to let them carry on with their act or they kill him. The father chose to sacrifice his life. They killed him and raped the daughters. I am sure it would have been different if that father was armed. I have been a victim of carjacking. I stopped at my gate and in a few minutes people came and surrounded my vehicle. They ejected me and took my vehicle plus all what I had with me. There are several incidents happening daily. It is important for one to be armed in order to protect himself or herself. I also wish to speak to the positive side of this Motion because recently during the Westgate Mall terrorist attack, several heroes emerged. One of them was a son of our colleague Senator who is in this House. He was not a police officer, but luckily he was armed. He managed to save several lives. Therefore, we need to look at the positive side of this Motion. Madam Temporary Speaker, in the past we had many police reservists. These were civilians who were armed after being vetted or chosen in a systematic way. We need to streamline the process of recruiting police reservists so that we have responsible citizens armed to take charge of particular situations. We know that it will weigh heavily on the Government wage bill to recruit more policemen. We also know that it is not possible for police officers to provide security to every Kenyan with the current ratio of one policeman to thousands whereas the internationally accepted ratio is one policeman to 400 civilians. Our statistics are way below that. I know the Government is not in a position to recruit more police officers and pay them. If we pass this Motion, we will be able to deal with the issue of providing personal security. During campaigns it is very dangerous for us, as leaders, to traverse various constituencies, especially at night. During that time, we meet people of all walks of life, including criminals. I would hate to imagine a scenario where I am in situation where I am confronted by thugs and I am helpless. I believe this Motion is well intended. We have test cases in many other countries. For example, in the USA, responsible citizens purchase firearms without any fuss and people do not kill each other every day because they own guns. Before we liberalized mobile telephony in Kenya, it was a big deal to own a mobile phone. Today, at least everybody has a mobile telephone and we use them responsibly. I believe if we arm our citizens selectively and responsibly, we will have better protection for the people of this country. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}