Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 432693,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/432693/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 345,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kaluma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1565,
        "legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
        "slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
    },
    "content": "That is what I was explaining, hon. Temporary Deputy Chairman. I was saying that the ongoing public vetting of the members of the National Police Service is in law grounded in these subsections (2) and (3) of Section 7 of the Act. Section 7(1) merely says that those who were serving in the National Police Force before the promulgation of the Constitution will, of course, continue to serve in the National Police Service. Subsection (2) then says that all those persons notwithstanding continuing to serve in the National Police Service will now be vetted. Of course, (3) confirms that in the vetting process anybody can be removed. The repeal that I am proposing is to stop the ongoing vetting process. I am not saying that, that vetting process should be stopped completely, but I am saying that the manner in which it is being proceeded with is not right. I was drawn to this thinking when I watched particularly, the vetting of the police officer heading the Police Airwing. I would request the Leader of Majority Party to listen. It has happened in public, contrary to court martial that we have it in private. I remember the good gentleman was being asked: “How many choppers do we have in the country, in the police force?’ and he said there in public, that all our choppers in the force are grounded and they hire when they need them. Essentially, you have told our enemies that we are not ready to fight them if they were to come in a manner that would not enable hiring. Colleagues, you also noted one day that a member of the force was saying: “If you remove me from the force, I will die.” I can tell you that, that officer was just being lenient. He was saying: “If you remove me from the force, I am going to be killed.” Essentially, that is what he was saying. I wanted to end by saying that we must approach police vetting in a manner that is sensitive to the fact that this is a security issue. I can tell you, hon. colleagues, that even in terms of court martials, you cannot go there just as a walk in lawyer. The police already know the thugs. They know the strategies the thugs use. They also know the strategies the thugs use to counter them. When you proceed with vetting en mass and in public in the manner in which we are proceeding, you are going to entrench insecurity in this country in a manner we will not believe. I was proposing that later, we may think of a law like the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board and not this casual and cursory way of approaching a sensitive issue."
}