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{
    "id": 426267,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/426267/?format=api",
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    "content": "We cannot say the same today because of frustrated extremist characters who have decided to take the law into their own hands. From history, apart from the terrible days of people like Emperor Nero, places of worship were always the refuge of people. Whether it was a mosque or a church, that was where the dispossessed and persecuted took refuge. Today, we see something different; hooded young men, wielding dangerous weapons and throwing devices in social places and now they have started throwing devices and physically attacking worshipers. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms possible. National security is within the domain of the national Government. When such things happen, it is not time to apportion blame, but to look for solutions. How do we arrest the runaway insecurity situation in Mombasa? In the last six months to one year, you can count more than ten incidents of challenges to security in Mombasa. Either Muslim clerics are being bumped off or churches are being attacked. In fact, the most audacious one is when a cleric in a mosque was preaching a version of Islam that his congregation did not like. They viciously attacked and left him severely wounded, but nobody has been arrested to date. You also know the case of the church at Tudor that was attacked and then now, Likoni. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I salute the lady – may her soul rest in eternal peace – who stood in the way of a bullet and lost her life to save her kid. That level of courage must be saluted and felt. I do not want us to debate this Motion and leave it at the point where we just finish and walk away, like a debating club. I want to urge this House, as the custodian of counties, and therefore, the peace and security in those counties, that we invite the two Committees on National Security and Human Rights, to sit together and go to Mombasa to investigate and listen to people. Why are we having restless youths and extremists creeping in our society? Why are we having intolerance being part of our culture? Why would one go and attack a house of worship, whose faith he does not profess? We have to ask all these questions. Is this a spillover from Somalia or an internal problem? What is it? We cannot say that it is because our country is poor or people are poor that they can take to crime. We have neighbours who are poorer than we are, and we do not see this happening. We want to go to the root of this. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we all love going to Mombasa for holidays, meetings and seminars but when you go to Mombasa today, you do not even know whether you should come out of your hotel room or not. You do not even know where your safety is. We are getting to a level like where a musician sang a song “who is watching me.” You do not know where you are, who is watching you and whatever they can do next. This must be condemned by this House in unison and supported in the terms that the Mover of the Motion has said. I want to urge the House that we go beyond the talk and have our committees investigate not only the attack at Likoni, but also the previous attacks that have left people killed, maimed and frightened, to the extent that on Sundays people are now condemned to sitting back in their houses and those who can afford television sets watch church services on television, instead of going to congregate. 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."
}