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{
    "id": 503907,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/503907/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 302,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. F.K. Wanyonyi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2065,
        "legal_name": "Ferdinard Kevin Wanyonyi",
        "slug": "ferdinard-kevin-wanyonyi"
    },
    "content": "Hon Temporary Deputy Speaker, I rise to support this Motion. First of all, I have learnt the fact that sometimes when somebody is arrested and taken to custody, he is literally confined until such a time that he falls sick. That is when the authority starts looking for his next of kin. I think this Bill has come at the right time. We have had cases where, as I mentioned earlier on, somebody is arrested, taken to prison or remanded and he cannot access some important facilities. I know of cases where the police, for example, deny children their rights. Last week, there was a case of a 12 year old child who was arrested for having trespassed on ADC farm in Kitale. The minor was confined in police custody until the parents had to come to me. I had to use my authority to be able to access the police station and I ordered that the child be released because the offence was petty. Due to corruption, the police even asked for money for keeping somebody in custody or to allow you access the person that has been confined. The time has come when somebody who has been arrested or is in the custody for whatever crime he has committed, to be given an opportunity to be able to communicate to his people. Secondly, as somebody has mentioned, some of these people are actually sick. I know of somebody who was arrested and taken to the cells. He was never taken to court for almost three weeks until again I intervened to have this person accessed. When I asked what the problem was, I realised that the charges preferred against this person were different from his offence. He had taken somebody’s daughter. He is a boy of about 24 years old. He was in agreement with this girl and the parents realised that he was the wrong person to marry their daughter. The parents of the girl went to the police. The boy was arrested and put behind bars for three weeks. It was never known where he was until again the parents complained to me as a Member of Parliament. Therefore, it is important that we get these things right so that we can streamline the operations of these institutions. Irrespective of the charges, we expect that there will be some rehabilitation programmes in prison, so that criminals can go back to the society as reformed persons. There are cases where people are imprisoned for periods ranging between four months and one year and when they go back to society, they turn out to be worse than they were before the imprisonment. If somebody is imprisoned for five or six years, we expect somebody to change such a person, but what happens? He gets out of prison worse than he was before serving the jail term. Therefore, we should be able to have programmes of rehabilitation. It is somebody’s right to be rehabilitated."
}