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{
    "id": 567890,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/567890/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 335,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Lentoimaga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2756,
        "legal_name": "Alois Musa Lentoimaga",
        "slug": "alois-musa-lentoimaga"
    },
    "content": "This is a very timely Motion. We have to take some precautions because in any human resource organisation or company, you must have a policy to attract and retain staff. Even police service must have that organisation to make sure it attracts the best and retains those good people in the service. What should they do? They have to look at the salary. At the moment, police officers earn meagre salaries compared to the work they do. When we are deep asleep or working, those are the people who are outside there looking after our welfare and protecting our property and lives. If they are not paid well, then they will not work well. That is why they are running away from the service. That is why you see policemen in this town busy escorting bank vehicles, guarding banks and Parliament. That is where they get their allowances. That is why they look for greener pastures. They are busy studying in the universities because they want to run away. That is because the salary in the National Police Service is not very good. So, we need to look at the welfare of the police. We also need to look at housing. In the rural areas where we come from, they live in tents. So, they live in very poor conditions. Their healthcare needs to be checked. They need to have insurance. They also need to have protective gear. In northern Kenya, they are grappling with cattle rustlers. Those cattle rustlers are more than 200 people in one go and they are armed. Those policemen do not have equipment. They need Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) because the terrain is very bad. They need protective gear like vests and air support for them to be retained in the service. So, as we look at the 10-year period for them to be in the public service, they should have that kind of assistance. Policemen are being killed. Kenyans are not fair to the police. A total of 50 policemen were massacred in Baragoi in 2012. What picture does that show to the police? It creates fear and discouragement for citizens to join the service. How can we address those issues so that we can attract and retain them? Human rights activists do not like the police. They attack and take them to the International Criminal Court (ICC). How does taking Hussein Ali to the ICC depict to the other policemen? What about a constable? What will they do? They will fear to work because while they are doing their normal duties, they know they can be taken to the Supreme Court here in Kenya. So, we need to address the welfare of the police in terms of how we relate to them. In other countries, killing a policeman is the highest crime you can ever commit. However, in this country, mob justice is meted on policemen. A single traffic policeman who is not even armed is just a civil policeman who is doing his job in the streets of Nairobi. However, when he does something small while enforcing that law, a mob is mobilised to lynch him. We need to do something so that we can maintain our police for 10 years in the service. Lastly, I want to talk about promotions. It is terrible in the National Police Service. There is corruption. Unless you are connected, you cannot be promoted to the next rank. I have seen The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}