Prof. George Saitoti

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 91 to 100 of 271.

• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move that the Prevention of Organized Crimes Bill be now read a Second Time. I would like to say at the very outset that this Bill has been formulated in view of the need to enact the necessary law to detect, prevent, investigate, criminalise and punish organised crime in Kenya. This is in the view of the threat posed by the criminal organized groups to the national security and the negative impact on the economy, the health and the general livelihood of Kenyans. The Government has come lately under very close scrutiny over the ... view
• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, while security organisations have and continue to put in place concerted efforts to combat organised crime, the existing laws seem inadequate to assist in preferring appropriate charges and meting out deterrent penalties against the offenders. Therefore, this particular Bill is expected to fill in the legal lacuna that exists in our laws. I should also wish to add that this Bill is drafted in line with the principle of the United Nations Conventions against organised crime, the year 2000, at the Palermo Convention and to which Kenya is a party. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, ... view
• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: Bill, it sets out activities constituting organised criminal activities. In other words, which are the activities which are considered to form criminal activities? Clause 3 deals with organised criminal activities. There are quite a number of them. They are defined from a to f, and I think because this is an extremely important Bill, perhaps I would like to seek your indulgence if I could actually go through them so that it becomes very clear what they are. I am aware that in the course of the Bill, hon. Members will have gone through it but at the very outset, ... view
• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: (iii) Endangering the life of any person or causing damage to his property. Again, we know that there are those ones in order to compromise people. Once they do this, mainly they cause damage to people’s property, including even endangering their lives. That will become, once again, under the framework of a criminal activity. view
• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: (e) Possession of an article connected with the commission of a serious offence. That will be another criminal activity. view
• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: (f) Organizing, addressing or attending a meeting for the purposes of encouraging support for the group – that is the organized criminal group. Clause 5, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, criminalizes oathing activities. It provides that a person commits an offence if such a person who- (a) is present at and consents to the administering o f any oath or engagement in the nature of an oath purporting to bind the person who takes it to belong to an organised criminal group or engage in an organised criminal activity; (b) administers an oath or engagement in the nature of an ... view
• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think is very clear that these sorts of activities that I have just outlined are activities are actually taking place today. But, once again, the law has actually been very weak. That is why those who commit these acts continue to do so with impunity, knowing very well that they will only receive light sentences. But once this particular Bill becomes a law, it is not going to be business as usual. There will be stiff penalties as far as these criminal activities are concerned. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 7 provides for ... view
• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: to make regulations. That is where, for example, in Clause 22, the powers of the Minister are then stated that it will empower the Minister in charge of Internal Security to declare a group as an organized criminal group where he has reasonable grounds to believe that such a group is engaging in the organized criminal activity under the Act. Of course, there is a proviso where a group has already been declared by the Minister to be a criminal organized group to be able to challenge that particular declaration. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I said earlier, we ... view
• 17 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: technology; the police have been able to trace the whereabouts of these organized kidnappers. A number of them have been nabbed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even when they are arrested, again, the penalties are not stiff enough. With the passage of this Bill, it will deter these criminals from kidnapping innocent people because the penalty will be very stiff. It is absolutely important that we do that. There are also many other crimes that are coming up today which are fairly sophisticated because of the new technologies of the world. Once again, if you trace them, they are also ... view
• 16 Jun 2010 in National Assembly: Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. Let me, first of all, begin by the clarification sought by hon. Dr. Khalwale. He wanted to know whether the Government will take action against the members of the clergy who issue irresponsible statements which would border on insecurity. I would like to state here like I stated earlier in the statement I read, namely that nobody is going to be treated as being above the law on this matter whether it is the clergy, whether it is the Members of Parliament, whether it is the Minister and any individual who makes ... view