Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 776006,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/776006/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 265,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Amin",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13398,
        "legal_name": "Amin Deddy Mohamed Ali",
        "slug": "amin-deddy-mohamed-ali"
    },
    "content": "Before I proceed, let me give my condolences to the families of the deceased, namely, Mr. Oluoch, who comes from Migori and his wife Caroline, and Mr. Kevin, who comes from Mt. Elgon. These were two great civil servants who were serving in the noble profession of teaching and were educating the people of my constituency. They did not deserve to die. I condemn this incident which has negated education and our entire livelihood in the region. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. They did not deserve to die. Any other civil servant or any other person from the pastoral community did not deserve to die in the hands of the armed militia. It is our responsibility, as a nation, to defend its people and properties so that we do not succumb to incidences of similar nature. May I narrate the incidence of 16th February which was very bad. On the midnight of 16th February, armed militia attacked the town of Qarsa, which is a small town or settlement in my constituency near the border of Somalia and Kenya. In the middle of the night, they attacked the residence of the two teachers. The couple was staying in one room and the other teacher lived in the other room. The attackers were in the teachers’ houses for about one-and-a-half hours. They did not get the support of any armed security apparatus. The area was not manned by any security administration. It took them about one-and-a-half hours to access, kill the teachers and destroy property. It was a very unfortunate situation. One thing we must realise is that in North Eastern, particularly the region that I come from, there is a long porous border with Somalia. This has allowed the infiltration of Al Shabaab into the region. They have maimed people and destroyed property. Kenyans should not allow that to happen. We should not allow Al Shabaab and other armed militia who infiltrate our country through the porous border to disrupt our peace and tranquility as Kenyans. Their attempts are not targeting non-locals. They target everybody, whether local or not. They are doing that because they want to disrupt our way of life. We should not succumb to their schemes, neither should we change our lifestyle because of them. Hon. Members, we need to device appropriate means of curbing this menace and other insecurities that happen in the region. There are other incidences that are already on record. About 18 persons have been killed in the last one month due to clan conflicts which are caused by lack of adequate resources in terms of water and pasture. This is uncalled for! Communities should not continue to be at war against each other. Their excuse has been depletion of resources, which include water and boundaries which they feel is communal. We should not allow that. We should not have an excuse to kill each other. We have also realised that there is no appropriate policy in terms of security in the arid and semi-arid regions in northern Kenya. No appropriate policy has been developed in terms of recruitment or intelligence. It has not been done over the years. What we recommend as Members who come from the region is that the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in Somalia, should protect our boundaries and should thus be strengthened to ensure that our borders are secure. Kenyans in the region, particularly along the boundaries should be very secure. They should have intelligence within the local communities so that they can access information regarding infiltration of people and persons with ammunition in the area. The Kenya Police Reservists (KPR) who operate in the region are not well equipped. They are also so ill-prepared. They do not have equipment and the training that is relevant to the terrain. We have observed that there is no proper co-ordination between the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and KPR. Information from the NIS should be properly communicated to the KPR so that they are always ready to face challenges on the ground. I wish The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}