Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 507482,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/507482/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 445,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "sometime they will go the police force or the National Youth Service (NYS), the whole thing is becoming confused. That is why we are seeing confusion. Unless Kenyans say that; let us go back to where we started. There was once a man called Gen. Tonge, who professionalized the army, he established a chain of command. He said: “When you reach this age you retire”. He gave an example of himself. He retired leaving behind a professional army. Those Tonge laws have completely been messed up. Here was a man who wanted a professional army running a capitalist state. However, when you come in wanting a capitalist army to run a capitalist state; you cannot do it. It does not happen anywhere. It has seen failure of State in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. The problem was in Latin America for many years because army men were involved in business and, therefore, they could not be professional. In Colombia, why do you think that the drug lords took over? It is because people in the army were also drug lords. There was nobody to chase the drug lords. You cannot have drug lords in the army chasing drug lords in the bushes. It cannot happen. So, this is Kenya, taking the route of Latin America; becoming another Columbia. Unless we stop this nonsense of guessing what is happening, we are not going to get anywhere. It is very painful that we can see our people being killed day in, day out, and the people who should be in charge are not seeing the problem. They are continuing as if it is business as usual. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I feel very strongly that in the army, unless we restore the Gen. Tonge culture, we are not going anywhere. In the police; unless the police force becomes professional as it has always been in the past, we are not going anywhere. If you begin building personal forces; the Tonton Macoutes in the NYS; the police and the APs are not going to be happy and, therefore, they are not going to fight and defend this nation. All these games that we are playing from the top will only show that the fish is rotting from the top. There is no way fish rotting from the top is going to be able to swim in Lake Victoria. I feel very strongly that this Motion has come at the right time. The National Assembly and the Senate Committee that is going to be set up should go to the root causes of these problems and call a spade a spade and not a big spoon. The other thing that I want to say today is that there is a charm offensive being employed by the Government. This charm offensive is that every time a thing like this happens you take token moves. We saw it when the Westgate attack happened. There was a charm offensive. Leaders appeared there, they were on television, great statements were made, promises were made, a commission on inquiry was going to be set up, everything to be revealed in a short time and action would be taken. That charm offensive ended there. When the Mpeketoni attack occurred, another charm offensive was taken. Leaders flew there, the President was there. All kinds of things were said, and he came back and made statements. Of course, some people said those statements are much more personal than professional or statesmanlike. That charm offensive also ended there. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the other day, we saw a County Commissioner from the Coast and Mr. ole Lenku himself, making another charm offensive. They said: “Throw this mess to the Opposition, we shall solve the issue.” That charm offensive ended there. The latest charm offensive is hiring public relations (PR) persons at millions 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."
}