Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 511147,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/511147/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 287,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker. The best laws must always be those that all of us will be comfortable with, if they were to be administered by our sworn enemies. Perhaps nothing highlights this more than the famous sermons of the late Rev. Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller who during the time of his life was a protestant priest and a social activist. In his famous sermons delivered in Germany in 1946, Rev. Niemöller had this to say: “In Germany when the Nazis came for the communist, I remained silent because I was not a communist; when they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent because I was not a social democrat; when they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist; when they came for the Jews, I remained silent because I was not a Jew; finally they came for me but by then there was no one left to speak for me.” It is true that insecurity in our country has reached extraordinary proportions and we need extraordinary responses but there should be no room for overreaction. It will be recalled that the overreaction by some of the super powers in the world after 9/11 is what has led to what is now the dysfunctional governments in Libya, Iraq and to some extent even the springing up of the ISIS. Overreaction turns co-operators into rebels and co- conspirators of criminals as witnessed in the cases of Mombasa, Eastleigh and Kapedo. I want to conclude by quoting again, the late Rev. Niemöller. In his later years and I wish everybody could listen to me, he had this to say about politicians. He said that for politicians “truth and falsehoods are important so I never could become a politician; not even as a church politician”. Ladies and gentlemen, hon. Members, never could be there be a more pregnant opportunity to prove the late Rev. Niemöller wrong on his view on politicians than what this Bill presents to us. I think we have an opportunity to debate this Bill soberly. There are problems with some of the provisions but as has been said by those who have spoken before me, I think we need a by partisan approach so that we can use the provisions of our Standing Orders and the provisions of the Constitution to amend those parts that are unconstitutional but move forward. Clearly, it would be wrong for anyone to assert that this Bill, as provided now, is the answer we have to our problem. The answer to the security problem in Kenya is much bigger. For instance, the other day I was being told, in Kiganjo, in spite of the problems we are facing, the syllabus is still largely what it was in the 1960s. I think the biggest problem that we have had in this country and the problem that we must address is that our security apparatus and particularly those in charge of enforcing security in Kenya have not mutated in tandem with the mutating trend of terrorism and crime. As we go forward---"
}