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{
    "id": 473719,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/473719/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 278,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ochieng",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, that is so encouraging to hear. One thing that I have seen since I came to this House is the way we create institutions severally without thinking how to go about them. In this Bill, hon. Millie seeks to create almost three institutions at different levels. She creates the Victims Services, the Board and a Trust Fund. I want to implore upon her to look at ways of merging those three to make one institution that can take care of all those things that we are talking about. So that we can have an umbrella body that would then create the victim services at every county level. We should not leave it with the Cabinet Secretary. We should let the Victim Services that will be created under this Bill be the body that will create those offices at the county level. If you leave it with the Cabinet Secretary, he could decide where he is going to create them and where not. So, we should establish them and let the Board that will be created under this Bill be the one creating those offices at the county level to help with what is required. The management of the Victims Trust Fund should also be within a single Board. You realize that she proposes to create Victim Services, a Board and a Trust Fund that all have people working there. If we could put those under one umbrella body, it will be good business going forward. Like I said, witness protection program in this country is new. It is three years old. One of the things that, that program will be doing is related to this. At the Committee level, we have been grappling on how to ensure that what this Bill provides can also tell what the information agency is doing under a law that was passed in the last Parliament. The other thing that this Bill provides for - and I think this needs to be looked at very closely - is what the Mover is calling the victim impact assessment. She says that, that impact assessment should be done by the victim. I think that should not be so. I think the board or appointees of the board are the ones that should do the assessment. She says that the victim can then decide whether he/she wants this or not. If you are going to use the impact of the offence of the victim, you should not leave it to the victim. You should let the body that we have created here, be the one to decide, just like the probation officers decide whether we need to provide information to the judges. In this case, the body we are forming should be the body that decides whether we need a victim impact assessment and how that impact assessment will be used to help the victims. I hope this is clear because we cannot leave it to the victims. They do not even have resources. They do not know how those things work and so, we should leave it to the body that we will create to help do this. As I finish, I just want to make this clear. The needs of the victims will, sometimes, not be financial. Like a Member said, sometimes, it is just medical. Sometimes, it is counseling that is required and we need to provide for that. I have seen attempts of doing that, but this is limited only to vulnerable victims. You can be as healthy as David Ochieng’ but you need counseling. If a crime has been committed The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}