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{
    "id": 749810,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/749810/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 140,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. F.K. Wanyonyi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2065,
        "legal_name": "Ferdinard Kevin Wanyonyi",
        "slug": "ferdinard-kevin-wanyonyi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I also want to add my voice to this amendment. The objective of this amendment is to amend the Act to provide for compensation. I will add something during the Third Reading. I will add “adequate and timely compensation”. The payment to those who have been hurt in line of duty takes a long time. We have had cases where a policeman has been coming here since I came to Bunge four years ago. He has been coming to check on his compensation to date. In fact, he called me this morning and I did not know I was going to contribute. I just want to tell him there is a problem and there must be some structure and timelines where compensation can take place. It is taking such a long time and, therefore, we should be able to amend this Bill during the Third Reading to read “adequate and timely”. Secondly, the training of the Police Force should be looked into and be expanded. We have cases where even those who are in the service take too long in one particular region. That, again, becomes a problem. That is because the more he or she stays in a location, the more they become familiar with the environment. Sometimes, even criminals come to know who he or she is and, therefore, compromise them. We should have regular transfers of those officers so that they can offer better services. Overstaying in a station is not good in the forces. The other thing is the protective gear. Many of our boys and girls are actually killed in the line of duty because they are poorly protected. The protective gear that is given is not very adequate. Most of the criminals are ex-policemen and they know exactly the kind of protective gear they have. Therefore, as we look at compensation, we should further ask the Government to provide modern equipment and protective gear to targeted policemen, especially those who work in very harsh conditions. I heard of a case in Marsabit where almost 42 policemen were killed by armed criminals because they knew the kind of weapons they had. So, as we look at compensation, we should also look at the protective gear that they have. We should encourage more youths to join the forces. We are going to have recruitment tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. We should move away from the old way of just picking recruits because they have got a grade D. We should see policemen as professionals. We should give them basic salaries that are good, are compensated in terms of insurance cover. Remember those days where we had a Form Four graduate joining the forces. They were properly trained in advance courses in the United States of America (USA), Scotland Yard and United Kingdom (UK). Therefore, we should encourage those who have performed well to go for the recruitment. We should not just look at those who did not pass very well to go to the forces. That is because we will have people in the forces who are not knowledgeable and are not able to cope with the advancement in their careers. We can attract professionals and even university graduates. They can bring change to the Service and it can become the field of professionals other than a field of failures. Therefore, we should encourage the recruitment of police officers. However, we should not concentrate on those who did not pass their exams. If we do that, we are likely to recruit 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."
}