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{
    "id": 668385,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/668385/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 327,
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    "content": "The sad thing that we were told by people who were involved in this clash in Songor, Kopere and Achego was that on the first and the second day of the conflict, the security there were just standing because they were partisan to that invasion from Nandi County into Kisumu County. This means that the security personnel there were part and parcel of this problem and that is one of the reasons I appealed to Maj. Gen. (Rtd) Joseph Nkaissery, the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, to bring in security personnel from outside to restore law and order. Indeed, when they came and restored law and order, it was a proof that the local security was not up to the mark in doing what they should do, which is to maintain law and order. It is a real shame when our security personnel behave like that. I learnt that the person who should be helping to manage security in that area is the District Commissioner (DC). He has been there for so long that he had become too familiar with the people. The English men say “familiarity breeds contempt.” The population in the area appealed to us passionately that this particular DC should be removed from Chemelil area. He should be taken somewhere else because he has become a menace to the security in the area. This should be a normal practice in the Government. It used to be a normal practice in the Government that if you are posted to a place, you do not stay there for more than three years. Indeed, in the diplomatic service, there is something called “a tour.” If you are an ambassador in Washington, you have a three year tour and when you finish unless in exceptional circumstances, you can be given another tour. Otherwise, you are supposed to move from one station to the other so that this issue of familiarity breeding contempt is safeguarded. There are too many provincial administration officers who have stayed for too long and have become a menace to the people. This is because they cannot rise to the occasion and perform their duties. That should be one of the things that should be done immediately. The other thing that is important is that it is not good to wait until that time when there is a problem to call the leaders for a meeting. We now know that there is a potential problem all the time. There should be a structured peace committee which, probably, meets periodically to review what is going on and to converse with the people. That peace structure should not be an adversarial peace structure where people from Kisumu and Nandi counties meet at a time of crisis as adversaries. These committee members should meet regularly to get to know each other. In any case, if my colleague Sen. Sang who is the Nandi County Senator and I, were part of that peace structure, we can easily facilitate many things together with the two Governors, the MCAs and the community leaders from both areas. Let not the security apparatus in this country wait for crisis to happen and then they call people. Let us not wait for crisis to happen for us to see the Hon. Francis Ole Kaparo, the Chairperson of the NCIC, visit such areas. Let it be something that is done continuously for us to avoid this kind of conflict. It is not even necessary to have peace structures as part of the solution. That peace should be there as a matter of fact. Indeed, we have many borders where there are no clashes. We know when it occurred; we know the causes and this should be eliminated by having proper governance on both sides. 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"
}