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"content": "an area that is still on the other side of the border and still under the control of Al- Shabaab. However, we are told that within the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) arrangement, that zone is under the control of the Ethiopian Government but not the Kenyan Government. The KDF operate from the area from Wajir all the way to Lamu on that side. So, they are in Kismayu and all those places. I do not understand how this Government, despite the fact that its own country is being attacked daily, cannot tell or convince the AMISOM to take over that zone. Why does the Government need permission from anybody in this world to safeguard its borders? This is something that we cannot understand. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are less than 200 KDF in the whole of Mandera County to guard the border. However, in this town, how many camps do we have? There is Kahawa, Langa’ta, Nanyuki and Nyali. We did not recruit the KDF in their tens of thousands so that they could stay comfortably in Nairobi. We recruited them and as taxpayers, we are paying them so that they guard the lives of people on the border areas. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is the failure of the Government that today, with the KDF being a highly respected institution, we do not have them on our borders. When the Governor of Mandera County, with his convoy, was attacked last Friday, the earliest response came after five hours yet they are not more than 50 or 60 kilometres away. The nearest camp is actually less than 50 or 60 kilometres away from where the incidence happened. Nonetheless, where is our Air Force? They are stationed in Wajir. Why were they not mobilised immediately? Where is the communication and network that we are told will be triggered immediately these kinds of things happen? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when massacres happened two months ago, we told the Government that, that one of the challenges we have is lack of local security officers who understand the terrain and who can get intelligence information on what is going on with the people. I do not understand why the Government, for whatever reason, mistrusts its own officers who would have given it intelligence information, who can move even at night and who can move off the main roads to try and get hold of these people. Half of the security forces who are in that area should come from the local communities. They understand that area and have the interest to pursue those people even across the border. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is strange that we are told that on the border, in a place called Khadija Haji, just a few kilometres from the border which is less than three or four kilometres away from them, is an Al-Shabaab camp. We do not understand how you can have a KDF camp two, three or four kilometres away yet there is no action by the Government. We are told that this is the same situation in Godondo. Three kilometres outside the town there are the KDF but the Al-Shabaab are inside the town yet there is no action. We are meant to think, as residents of Mandera, that there is some kind of a relationship between some officers in the forces and the people. We do not understand why the KDF cannot go across the border to attack the Al-Shabaab. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, about the issue of the security team in the county, we raised a concern with His Excellency the President when the quarry attacks happened. If the leadership of security including the County Commissioner has failed to secure that area, the least you can do is what was done in Mpeketoni, Lamu; to get rid of that team. 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."
}