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"content": "frontal approach. First, we must try to influence the youth positively. We must ensure that our youth do not fall in the hands of would-be preachers, sheikhs or whatever other name they go under. We must also be realistic in these issues when you find that a person has grenades and other weapons hidden in a mosque, a church, a Christian religious education, or Muslim religious institution, I would propose that the police must not be held back by the fact the building has a religious interpretation. Kenyans’ lives are at stake; when there is a threat, no matter what institution, the police should move in swiftly and ensure that the place is cleaned up. Whether it is a Sheikh or a priest, they must be arrested and brought to book. The 18 and 19 year old youths are not the culprits in this issue, but those who train them and radicalize them. The activism we have protects both the innocent and the guilty. When a person behaves in a manner in which some of those Sheikhs have behaved, then it becomes a Muslim issue. This is not a Muslim issue. This is an issue of criminality and treason. When that happens, it should not matter whether a person is a Sheikh, a Bishop or whether an institution is a Mosque or a Church. That should not matter. At the end of the day, the most fundamental responsibility of the Government is to protect human life and, similarly, properties of Kenyans. I agree that there must be a way of making sure that youth are not radicalised. However, whenever it happens, I do not think there should be a choice about what the police should do. The police should not be told to act on the same intelligence that we are saying that they do not have. We are happy about the new appointment in the NIS. We are very happy that Gen. Kameru is there now. We hope that there will be changes, especially the ones that have been proposed on the Floor of this House. There is no way that we can tell the police not to act on information that they have, for instance, that there are grenades in an institution or a Mosque and then, later on, we blame the same police for not having acted on the intelligence. In this particular case, they acted on intelligence given. Therefore, it is good to appreciate. We should be saying that we are very happy that the police entered that Mosque, took grenades which the following Sunday would, probably, would have killed people in an institution, whether in a church or in another Mosque. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, let us separate religious issues from criminal issues. Let us not speak in the same sentence to describe religious and criminal people. Those two do not go together. They are not mutually exclusive. Therefore, we should think about helping radicalised individuals. How do we make sure that our sons and daughters are not put in a situation where the police have to deal with them instead of parents dealing with them? The training of these reservists must and should include training to deal with these kinds of issues. This should be training to urge our youth not to get into those kinds of activities. Their mandate must go beyond shooting people. We must train reservists that will work with people and ensure that our citizenry can rise up and become good citizens across the country. Currently, when you see 200 youth being arrested on one day, you must tell yourself that something is not correct. We have seen, in the former central province, the whole issue of Mungiki. We know how difficult it has been to eliminate it. Once gangsters take root, it becomes very difficult to eradicate them. That is why I am 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."
}