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{
    "id": 811317,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/811317/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 102,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you cannot fight crime by violating human rights. What is happening in Isiolo County is unacceptable. It is a situation where there is collective or communal punishment for a crime committed by individuals. This has become the norm that every time our police officers feel that they have been wronged, or someone has committed an offence like in the case of Isiolo County where a police officer was killed, then the whole community pays the price. You would see mass movement of people, burning of houses, displacement, destruction of property and killing of domestic animals. That has to come to an end. Under our new Constitution, each one of us needs to be alive to the fact that human rights are very important. Further, presumption of innocence is an important principle in the Constitution. Sometimes, I shudder to imagine; even us who are lawyers, you see someone is accused of something, but we are the first ones to say that person should be punished or hanged or be locked in without bail. There was a difficult time recently amongst us lawyers where persons were denied bail on account of fighting corruption. What happened to the presumption of innocence and the fact that anyone who is accused is innocent until proven guilty? This is exactly what we have imported from our actions in our communities. In the Marakwet community, there was an old culture that still exists in a few areas. This is where if your relative back home was drinking busaa with someone else and they have a fight and maybe he kills the person, they would come and destroy all the property in my home regardless of the fact that I am busy here working in this Chamber. They would go and pursue the relatives of the person to revenge by killing them. That practice must come to an end. Our police forces cannot be perpetuators of that kind of barbaric act. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this nation is under a new Constitution, new rules and new ways of doing things. We have an Inspector-General (IG) of police who, in my honest estimation, is a very well educated, reasonable and sober man. Together with his deputies, they should now put in place a proper curriculum that will ensure that, in law enforcement, our police at the local level will be police officers and not the police force; because that was the transformation we wanted in our new Constitution. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also a presumption, particularly in pastoralist areas, that every person is a criminal unless he proves himself otherwise. The respect for human rights--- If you see the Deputy Senate Majority Leader coming here with such a serious statement, it actually points to the gravity of the situation. This is because if it was something small, there is nothing which would have stopped Sen. Dullo –who is a The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}