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{
    "id": 677326,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/677326/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 280,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "The issues that he or she is supposed to inform the National Assembly include reason for such deployment so that we know if it meets the threshold. Other reasons are to avoid cases of abuse, the place where the defence forces are being deployed and the period for which they are expected to be deployed. Many people have talked about the neighbouring country, Somalia. We know our forces are there but we do not know for how long they are going to be there. I know that sometimes we cannot predict such issues but in circumstances where you can predict, it is important that that must be part and parcel of the information that is given to this House as the representatives of the people. I am happy about the oversight role of Parliament. As a Committee, we sat down and said that you cannot take away the oversight role of Parliament. My Chairman talked about it. As we move on, we are going to handle that accordingly. Clause 34 is where there is a problem. It talks about the creation of an auxiliary reserve force. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you will agree with me that the members of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the National Youth Service (NYS) have not even been trained on how to use a gun. It becomes very dangerous to say you are going to pick them to be part of that force without proper training. I am happy that we saw this as a Committee. We do not want to militarise the country. It is important to have an auxiliary force in cases of shortages but people must be recruited in this auxiliary force from a team where people have been trained properly, particularly when it comes to the use of firearms. That is why my Committee, under the able chairmanship of Hon. Gethenji, has given that proposal that as we move on, we want this part to be deleted because we do not want to militarise this State. That can be dangerous especially when it comes to cases of robbery. That is why we sat down as a Committee and realised that we must look into this issue so that militarisation can be minimised. A lot has been said. However, I want to look at Clause 39, where we have the proposal to delete. We are deleting this to ensure that the Defence Council prepares an annual financial report to be presented to the President and Parliament. This helps us to retain our oversight role. Otherwise, much has been said as far as this is concerned. 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."
}