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{
    "id": 720049,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/720049/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 80,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Dido",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2749,
        "legal_name": "Col (Rtd) Ali Rasso Dido",
        "slug": "col-rtd-ali-rasso-dido"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. I rise to support this Bill. I agree with you, Hon. Speaker, that this operationalises the Bill of Rights. It gives effect to the important things that, maybe for many years, our society has taken for granted. There is nothing to guide even judges in courts in terms of how to pass sentences. The acts of torture that are degrading, inhumane, cruel or forms of punishment that cannot be humanely done is what this Bill attempts to identify. This country is not alone in this matter. Recently, in the United States of America (USA), there was a discussion about waterboarding which is part of torture and yet some Americans agree that waterboarding is good. For that reason, the progression in the Kenyan law and, society must be considered particularly in the light of this Bill because when we say that victims or individuals who are arrested by police or any law enforcement agencies must not be tortured, it is important and true. This is because today, we have forensic scientific discoveries such as DNA in terms of finding out if an individual has been involved in a particular act. All these are available tools that were not there before, that law enforcement agencies can use to determine if a particular individual can be brought before court with adequate material evidence. In recent times, we have seen the disappearance of victims who were arrested. Sometimes we ask ourselves whether it is because the law enforcement agents are unable to extract evidence or information from these individuals that they feel they are discouraged. For that reason, I believe that this is a very important Bill that both the citizenry and law enforcement agencies must clearly understand. For example, in the area of aiding and abetting, the first call of contact is normally the law enforcement agency or a police station, for that matter. Normally, if a police officer is involved in a particular situation of dealing with a victim in an inhumane or degrading manner, the first people to say that it did not happen or who try to bury the evidence are the police. For that reason, this law must attempt to identify some of the areas individuals can resort to if the first point of call is a police station and they do not get a fair hearing because one of the law enforcement agencies is involved."
}