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"id": 861377,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/861377/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
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"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
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"content": "I have been a magistrate before in my life and when you say: “Not exceeding Kshs500,000, of course, the ordinary interpretation is that it can be Kshs1 to Kshs500,000. However, an enthusiastic magistrate thinks that since it is Kshs500,000, it is fair to impose half of it. It still becomes Kshs250,000. There is nobody in the villages who can afford this kind of fine. There is nobody who can raise Kshs500,000 for a woman whose total quantum of trading wares is Kshs3,000 or even Kshs1,000. When you impose Kshs500,000, it will not work. We are just going to fill jails with these people. Madam Temporary Speaker, what happens is that when they are arrested, they are taken to the police. The police station is a toll station. They are then taken to court. The court is another toll station. They are then taken to prison, which is another toll station. As a responsible man with one acre of land and your wife was arrested because she was selling bananas worth Kshs500, she has been hit with a fine Kshs250,000, you sell half of the little land that you own to go and get her out. This makes families even more destitute. I want Sen. Khaniri to rethink these fines and make them as low and affordable. These days, there are varying degrees of corruption. When people are taken to court, the magistrate pulls the law and tells you: “A fine here is Kshs1 million. If you give me half, I will let you go.” This happens. You are aware of these things. I am preaching to the converted. We should not open this window at all. Corruption is endemic in Kenya. It is everywhere. We saw the other day on television - I do not know whether the Senator for West Pokot County saw it - a young man riding a tuktuk fighting police who were roughing him up. The policemen, instead of exercising their powers of arrest, took stones and started throwing at the suspect. When you have this kind of crudity in the enforcement of the law, do not give them this window; they will hurt wananchi. Madam Temporary Speaker, I would also want, in fact, harsher penalties in terms of enforcement of human rights, human dignity and respect for the rule of law. Harsher penalties should go to offending enforcement officers and not those on which the law will be administered. That way, if an officer is found guilty of maliciously destroying the wares of a trader or taking away money from traders in terms of bribes, those ones should be punished in accordance with the law relating to corruption and fairly harshly. I would also want the distinguished Senator proposing this Bill to deal with the issue of delegated legislation. In Clause 14, he is talking about the County Executive Committee (CEC) member to publish fines to be imposed by the unit. Again, delegated legislation born out of this law must come to Parliament. I would want the Senator to expand this and, in fact, in-build small fines here that can be administered other than leaving to somebody else to go and misinterpret the law and write out things that will not help the administration of the law. Clause 15 on the powers of arrest, we must also ensure that we make it very clear that the arresting authority and the powers to arrest must be in conformity with the law. You have already mentioned how brutal these people normally are in the course of duty, so that when you want to arrest somebody, tell them which law they have violated, the nature of the violation and tell them: “I am giving you a note. Go to the police The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}