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{
    "id": 794158,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/794158/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 876,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Atandi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13290,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Onunga Atandi",
        "slug": "samuel-onunga-atandi"
    },
    "content": "side being in this Chamber to be able to support this legislation. Our territorial waters have become dens for criminal activities. If you want to look at our coastal region, drug business is one of those businesses thriving there. I am told that when those people in drug business want to sneak in drugs into our country, the drugs can be kept in the waters for as long as one year before they are sneaked in. You also find that things like abduction where tourists or people enjoying themselves in the hotels along the beaches are being abducted. This is facilitated because of our porous border territorial waters. You can enumerate many of these criminal activities happening because of lack of a specialised force in charge of our territorial waters. This is something for which we must applaud the Committee for doing a very good job. All of you are aware, and I thank Hon. ole Sankok for highlighting the issues along the lake, that our people have been dehumanised. Efforts by our Government to intervene and talk to Uganda have not been able to bear conclusive fruits. Recently, we had cases where Ugandan police officers invaded Migingo Island and, sometimes, they force our fishermen to eat raw fish. They do all manner of things that really dehumanise our people. Our police force at one point was also captured in this process. If this Bill is providing for a specialised unit that is basically going to ensure that our people are protected from those aggressors, we have no reason not to give it the maximum support that is needed so that we can allow our people to live dignified lives in our country. You will also find that there are cases where those foreigners come in and they set base. There are cases where those Ugandans have been found to be raping our women. The saddest thing is that, sometimes, we are considered a country that is very weak. I know that if you go to Somalia today, you will find that the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) forces consisting of Kenyans, are there fighting Al Shabaab. They are ensuring that this war succeeds. But when you come to Kenya, you find that we are so weak because we do not have a system. So the Chair of this Committee and members have really done a good job. Without wasting time, I would like Parliament to fast-track this Bill without amendments. I have gone through it; I do not think there is anything that really we should amend. The force that is going to be constituted is going to be well trained. It is going to focus on ensuring that our security along those areas is well taken care of. I also want to talk about Turkana because Lake Turkana is also in the north and it borders Sudan. Even in that region, we have aggressors coming in and interfering with our people along those borders. So, this is our answer. As Parliament, we want to wholeheartedly support this Bill and ensure that it is passed so that it is swiftly implemented for the good of our people. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}