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{
"id": 960406,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/960406/?format=api",
"text_counter": 217,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13131,
"legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
"slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
},
"content": "If you drive in the morning as you come to work or whenever you interact with these officers, they seem very angry. Their disposition show people who are frustrated and have a problem. Something is wrong and that reflects on their work. They will respond to matatu drivers or members of the public with anger and disdain, and it ceases being Utumishi kwa wote . The wording of this motto should have been changed because we are moving from a police force to a police service. For somebody to serve you well, they need to be in a good mental state. Madam Temporary Speaker, I support this Motion and pray that we will be able to go to the nitty gritty of the welfare of these officers, including the stigma they face and the amount of money they are receiving as salaries and allowances. Recently, some of them approached us, as a Committee, on the matter of graduate officers within the disciplined forces. There is a different way to look at how graduate officers actually get promotions. We are urging them to sit down with the National Police Service Commission, together with their Inspector General (IG) and their team to agree on that. Let them know that we, as a House and as leaders of this country, actually care about their wellbeing and that of their families and children. A child of a police or military officer must be guaranteed of education, healthcare and a roof over their heads. That is the basic. As I keep on saying, the strength of a country is not measured by the amount of money in its central bank or advancement of wealth, but how they treat people. This includes how we treat the most vulnerable in society, those offering essential services and making daily sacrifices to the country. In fact, before, being a teacher and a police or military officer used to be called professions. This is because everybody wanted to be a teacher or a military officer, not because it was the only job that was left. Today, people say, “Since I did not pass my exams; since I did not get an A or B, let me be a police officer or a military officer.” We must change that thinking so that we attract the best in society to go to our disciplined forces, to become a teacher, et cetera . That is how we will make progress. Madam Temporary Speaker, I thank Sen. Khaniri for bringing this Motion. We support it and even as it goes on, our Committee will engage with the leadership of the disciplined forces; that is the military, police as well as the prison service, to find out, as it is, even before we pass this Motion, what they are doing with respect to welfare of officers. How are they debriefing those who are returning from peacekeeping missions in Somalia, and so on? How are they maintaining a steady flow and a safe place where any officer, wherever they are in Mandera, Wajir, Nairobi, Kisumu et cetera, so that if they have any mental or psychosocial issue, they will not be judged, and they can speak to somebody and get counselling. Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker."
}