“The truth of the matter is that there has been a member of this House who went to the press and said that unless Haji is sacked then the atrocities will continue and the following day this happened,” said Sugow.
MPs Zakayo Cheruiyot (Kuresoi) and Abdul Bahari (Isiolo South) however opposed the deployment of KDF, saying soldiers would be too harsh on the populace.
“Armies all over the world are trained to deal with external aggressors. The army goes in to exterminate, not to pacify,” said Cheruiyot, a former Internal Security Permanent Secretary in the Moi regime.
He however called for immediate action. “If this had happened in Nyeri, or Nakuru, everybody would be rushing there, but in Tana Delta nothing is happening. Why are we allowing Kenyans to just die? Why are we sinking into desperation by calling for KDF in Tana?” said Cheruiyot.
“If we say the police are incapable, then every small issue we’ll be sending the military,” said his Isiolo South counterpart.
This prompted the introduction of the amendment by Fafi MP Adan Sugow to change the crucial word in the Motion from Parliament “approves” the deployment… to “urges”.
“The truth of the matter is that there has been a member of this House who went to the press and said that unless Haji is sacked then the atrocities will continue and the following day this happened,” said Sugow.
Sugow also mentioned Galole MP, Dhadho Godhana as having a hand in the attacks, less than a week after Acting Internal Security Minister Yusuf Haji also accused the same MP.
Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba said the initiation of the process of deploying the military is only the prerogative of the President and Parliament cannot take over this function.
“This House has no constitutional authority to purport to move the government to act in a manner that presupposes that the President command the armed forces,” said Namwamba.
This means that if the decision is made, the House would be asked for its approval in the same manner it did with the deployment of the KDF to Somalia to fight Al Shabaab.
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