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{
    "id": 573289,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/573289/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 120,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wandayi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2960,
        "legal_name": "James Opiyo Wandayi",
        "slug": "james-opiyo-wandayi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for this opportunity. From the outset, I rise to support this Motion as amended. I am very grateful to my friend, Hon. John Waluke, for having thought it wise to bring this Motion. This Motion could not have come at a better time. I want to speak to this Motion very briefly particularly on the aspects brought about by the amendments. It is a fact that police officers in this country work under increasingly difficult circumstances. They work under very tough challenges. It is only in this country that we still have the police being seen as a reserve of failures. This is a historical problem. In the past, the profession has been left to people who have not performed well in school. This has continued to perpetuate the fact that police service is a reserve for failures. In most countries, more so in the west, for example, America, police service is a very serious profession. It is a profession just like any other. Indeed, in some countries, it is a very coveted profession and it takes the very best to get admission into the police service. In Kenya, it is totally the opposite of what happens in the developed world. It is dehumanising that police officers can be expected to offer services within the conditions they operate which, to say the least, are not fit for human survival. The fact that police officers are underpaid does not need to be overemphasised. I have heard of amounts of money appropriated by this House to the NPS. The fact of the matter is that even though the amounts appropriated look big, they are not sufficient to address the needs of the NPS, particularly on the matter of remuneration, housing and other welfare aspects. So, this country needs to do more to adequately fund the NPS so as to take care of the officers in a manner that can make them capable of providing services to the citizens of this country. It goes without saying that if a police officer is underpaid, his or her morale plummets. A demotivated or demoralised police officer cannot be expected to offer services to the country. This is an issue we have talked about over and over. It is also a fact that police officers in this country do not even belong to a trade union. Therefore, there is no one to agitate for their welfare. There is no one to fight for their welfare too. So, these officers are left at the mercy of no one because there is probably no mechanism for them to articulate the issues they feel need to be addressed in order to make them feel like human beings. In my constituency, if it were not for the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), I do not know what could be happening now. Many a times we have been called upon in the 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."
}