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{
    "id": 501609,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/501609/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 163,
    "type": "other",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "We cannot have people being slapped and uncovered right in the midst of everybody when we have security personnel and we live in a free country. The events that took place in Mombasa, Kapedo and the different parts of the country are evidence that we really must move forward in terms of building the capacity of the National Police Service (NPS) and ensuring that they are put on the map so that they can actually do what they are expected to do. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, from the amendment that Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangpuo is bringing, he is suggesting that we move away from voluntarism so that we have police reservists who are already empowered and capacitated to do the work. Today, not enough attention has been paid to them. Over a long period of time, you find people who have experience, but it is ad hoc experience. People are just learning on the job without proper training that has taken place. They are just people who are known in their communities without real training, given arms and there is no follow up on how those arms are being used and exactly what their work entails. This makes it very difficult for anybody to hold them accountable and yet there must be an entity that should be able to hold them accountable. As suggested in this Bill, it is the Commission which becomes responsible for vetting and rolling the KPRs so that they can be part and parcel of a clear work force. We should move away from voluntarism and being enrolled without a specific mandate. The whole idea of vetting is very key in running our affairs. We cannot have people who are in positions of responsibility who have not been vetted because we do not know whether they have criminal records, are pedophiles or murderers. We do not know who they are and how they have been trained. That really puts us in a very dangerous position, where we have different sorts of people who have not been vetted, so that we know exactly what their capacity is. So, the amendment that Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo is suggesting to put forward on vetting and enrolling them is very key. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the other amendment that he puts across in sub- section 2 is that the Commission shall, not only determine the maximum number of reserve officers, but also move forward to institutionalize the specific roles that they will play within the particular Commission. This is very key and important. I just want to refer to the specific roles which he has mentioned such as training. Not only does he say that this training is just to take off as a one-off event, but regular training. That is very important because you will find people training, but different circumstances prepare people for different things. For example, sometimes people have to be retrained and decongested of the experience that they have had. For example, those who have gone to war and come back need to be taken through counseling and the situations that they are in, so that they can deal with even psychological issues that they have come across in their line of work. It is shocking that we would have a team of police reservists who do not have uniforms. What is the importance of uniform? It is for identity. It gives you a sense of status and knowledge of your roles and responsibilities, so that at any one time, we have people who know what their role is. That role is portrayed through the use of uniform to those whom they serve. Most of the time that uniform will give you a reference number and tag. It is possible for you to identify if there is a police officer who has run amok, for example. You can go back and actually identify that police officer by the number and 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."
}