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"id": 754260,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Abongotum",
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"legal_name": "Asman Abongutum Kamama",
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"content": "Thank you very much, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Motion for Adjournment by Hon. Nakuleu, who is a legislator who understands matters of East Africa. Before he came to this House, he was a Member of the East African Legislative Assembly and so, he understands the geo-security and the geo-politics in East Africa. We really sympathize with the people of Turkana North and Turkana County in general. For those of us who read newspapers, these people have really been harassed by tribes from across South Sudan and Ethiopia. Of course, you will be told about Toposa, Merille, Dong’iro and Nyangatom. These tribes are heavily armed and I do not know if they know that they have a government in their respective places. They operate like beasts. They cross to Kenya, kill the Turkana people with impunity and go away. I want to promise that I will sit down with the Members of my Committee and engage the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government once he is sworn in because it is not going to be business as usual. It has to be business unusual. We have to explore ways and means of dealing with this issue. Since I came to this House, 11 years ago, Members from those regions have been raising the same issues. I remember Hon. Ethuro used to move Motions for Adjournment most of the time on the same issues. For how long must this continue? So, we will sit down and come up with sustainable solutions of addressing this problem. I want to propose, and this is my thinking and I will try to convince the Members of my Committee, that we need homegrown solutions to this issue. The people in the security sector do not address this problem comprehensively. So, this time round, we want to sit down with the six counties in the region, namely, Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Pokot, Baringo, Kuria and some parts of Meru, because this is where you have issues of cattle rustling and come up with solutions that we feel that the Government should implement. It is always top down. We need solutions from the locals themselves. If they tell us that the Kenya Police Reservists (KPRs) could be the most effective in dealing with this, then we think of giving them stipends and training them to supplement what our security people are supposed to be doing. A good percentage of the security issues are being addressed through the KPRs. I want to thank the KPRs for what they are doing in Turkana and Pokot. In parts of Baringo County, for example, in Tiaty where I come from we do not have KPRs and that is why we have so many issues there. The KPRs are also doing well in Marsabit, Isiolo and Samburu. So, we need to find ways and means of empowering them. We need to empower the RDUs in the Administration Police together with the General Service Unit (GSU). When we are told that the GSUs are stationed at Kibish and Todonyang and people are being killed and no action is being taken, where will these Turkanas go? Let us also explore ways of deploying our military officers. When you go to Uganda, from Bukwa, south of the Karamoja Region, all the way through Dodoth, all the way to Jie County, all the way to Kaabong and all the way to Olopoi, we have military officers stationed after every 30 kilometres. From Mount Elgon all the way to our boundary with South Sudan, we have military officers. Why can we not think of having the same officers from Kacheliba all the way to Lokichoggio and then all the way 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."
}