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{
    "id": 960422,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/960422/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cherargei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13217,
        "legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
        "slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
    },
    "content": "Thank you Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to support the Motion on the creation of support services for members of the disciplined forces and their families. This Motion is timely because Kenya, under former President Kibaki, did go to Somalia through a programme called Africa Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to try and bring stability and ensure that Kenya and the horn of Africa is safe, secure and lives and property are being protected. I happen to have one of my brothers in the military service. Luckily, he has not met any casualties while in Somalia. However, there are many families in Kisumu County as well as other counties that have buried many young people, below 30 years, because of terror attacks while in their line of duty, especially in Somalia and other missions abroad. We appreciate that Kenya is one of the critical partners in terms of being used as missions to provide stability across the world. That is very critical in terms of ensuring that we have a stable and secure society. Madam Temporary Speaker, according to some statistics, although the Government is yet to confirm, there are many deaths that have occurred, especially involving military officers from Kenya. More than 60 of them have died in the line of duty and coincidentally, it happens that most of them are from Nandi County. It is very sad because it is said that in time of peace, it should be the sons burying their fathers, while in times of war, it is the fathers who bury their sons. It is always very sad as they leave young wives and children who are barely in nursery school. You can imagine the trauma that their spouses, immediate family members and community go through. Whenever you attend such funerals you get the feeling that many young people are no longer willing to be recruited to the military in this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, I agree that counseling is very important. I remember, as the Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights, we have been working also to establish trauma and counseling centers after the Solai dam tragedy. This is ongoing and the Red Cross has been of very great help. We hope that the Ministry of Defence, through the Cabinet Secretary, Madam Rachael Omamo, will be able to effect some of these changes of providing counseling to the spouses and the members. As Sen. Omogeni has said, these are people who are in line of duty and see their colleagues dying. Some are injured and when they comeback, they face psychiatric problems. Having counseling or trauma centers to offer services to the families that have lost great heroes and soldiers in the line of duty is important. They should be counseled. Our memory as a country is very short. We have seen many tragedies and issues happening, like the Ethiopian Air crash that killed 32 Kenyans. The Government did not provide any counseling for a period of time. It would be very important for counseling to be done within a period of time. Whenever an officer dies in the line of duty, there is need for the family to be counseled, because they face many issues. We have seen cases where many Kenyans commit suicide because of other issues. What happens to somebody that has seen colleagues die or lose their legs? You can imagine the horror that such people go through. We propose that when a soldier dies in line of duty, and these are our heroes that we should celebrate, their immediate family members should be taken through a rigorous and elaborate counseling sessions. 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."
}