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{
    "id": 936969,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/936969/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 297,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13331,
        "legal_name": "Wilberforce Ojiambo Oundo",
        "slug": "wilberforce-ojiambo-oundo-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I sit in the Committee on Delegated Legislation and I had an opportunity to listen to the presenters and other stakeholders. I do not want to repeat what my colleagues have said about public participation and the rest. Just allow me to make a few comments and specifically with regard to various provisions. I was alarmed like any other Member of the Committee by a provision that gave the Officer Commanding a Police Station (OCS) unfettered authority to call upon the private security guards to provide security in national interest. I saw that as an extremely dangerous provision with an end result of plunging this country into chaos. I just recalled that after the 2017 elections there were very many protests, picketing and demonstrations in support of the elections or opposition. I just imagined if we had a rogue Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) who could simply collect licensed or unlicensed private security providers to assist in quelling those riots. Considering that the private security guards are not adequately prepared and trained there was going to be chaos. The most dangerous provision as well is one which required that in the event a private security guard was called upon to provide security services in respect of the Government, if he or she commits a felony or the person whom he has been requested to arrest or quell a riot suffers injury or damages and the victim sues, the private security guard is personally held liable. He is held liable for any damages that may be awarded by a court of law or any other competent authority. Many of the boys and girls who join private security guards do not have the wherewithal to meet those kinds of damages in the event they are asked to pay. For this reason and many other reasons, the Committee and I felt that these regulations were prematurely drafted with a sinister motive and were going to hurt the intended beneficiaries more than benefiting them. The period given to comply is extremely too short. Currently, it takes 18 months to train a competent police officer. It takes much more to train that police officer on the job to understand the ropes of the job. Private security guards normally go through very rudimentary training. The period left between gazettement and compliance of the Regulations is effectively two months. You can never train a security guard to understand the tenets of providing security within two months and expect him or her to operate at the same level as a qualified police officer or security agent."
}