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{
    "id": 515122,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/515122/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 370,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Hargura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 827,
        "legal_name": "Godana Hargura",
        "slug": "godana-hargura"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I would like to send my condolences to the relatives of the victims of various attacks in Mandera and parts of this country and also to empathize with the Senator for Mandera and the residents of Mandera for all they are going through. I had the opportunity of working in Mandera since the year 2006. I was there as a roads engineer and by virtue of my job, I had to travel a lot. I know what the people of Mandera are going through.It is only now because of the county government and trying to take issues into their own hands in terms of development, we are getting this information. Unfortunately, to a larger extent, that area - that is the former North Eastern Province and the former Northern Frontier District (NFD) - has been left to fend and to secure itself. For the case of Mandera, they have, for a long time gone through very difficult times. In fact, when I was there, those of us who come from outside the area could not sleep. There were times when from evening to 3.00 a.m., there was a lot of gun fire in Mandera. That time it was the Somali system against the Ethiopian system. Mandera is at the tip of Kenya; to the north, we have Ethiopia and to the east, we have Somalia. Sometimes, they even fight through the Mandera Airspace and the bullets land in Mandera Town. There is a petrol station where somebody was fueling his vehicle when he was hit by a big calibre bullet from Somalia while they were firing at Ethiopia and all this time, we have a Government there. So, Kenyans have been left on their own for a long time. Now, when they have to develop or make use of devolution, you can see the kind of obstacles they are facing. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I blame the Kenyan Government squarely for all this because Mandera is part of Kenya and the residents of Mandera have all the right to be protected by their Government; but that has not been forthcoming. I know that there is a military camp at the airstrip there and there are many police officers there; but the practice is that you only see them during the day. How you will go through the 12 hours of the night is up to you; you will meet them in the morning. You only see the police officers in the morning and at night, you are on your own. Of course, the people from Somalia – the terrorists – will take advantage of that situation; that is why they can hit whenever and wherever they want. This is the situation as it is and it has been so in the past, but we have to change it. The Kenyan Government has to take responsibility. The other day, I was in a Committee meeting, talking to some senior security officers and they told us that the intelligence that the Kenyan Government has is that there is a plan to create a caliphate from the Coast up to Mandera. They were trying to justify why these people are coming in. We have our military all the way to Kismayu, but when you ask them where our military is along the Mandera border, they tell you that is Gedo Region, which is under Ethiopia according to the African Union (AU). How do you give a foreign country authority to control or protect your border for you yet you have sent your military all the way across Somalia to the Port of Kismayu? 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."
}