Kenya to spend more tax payers money>Special police unit to guard Parliament
Posted by africanpress on October 6, 2008
Police officers arrest a demonstrator outside Parliament in this file photo. The Parliamentary Service Commission wants a special police unit for Parliament. Photo/FILE
A special police unit is to be set up to cater for Parliament, the Parliamentary Service Commission decided on Saturday.
It will cater for MPs and the four buildings that form the Kenya National Assembly — Parliament Buildings, Continental House, County Hall and Harambee Plaza.
The proposal for the unit was adopted following a three-day PSC strategic meeting at Serena Beach Hotel, Mombasa.
The plan comes a month after Speaker Kenneth Marende announced that allowances for MPs’ police bodyguards had been increased because of their extra responsibilities. But he did not elaborate on how much more this would cost the tax-payer.
There have been three major security scares in the House.
One involved a break-in by a gang that stole several items, including computers, while in another, a stranger walked undetected into the debating chamber in the company of judges during the state opening by President Kibaki.
Yet another was when a man jumped over the security fence and tore a flag from a Cabinet minister’s car in broad daylight.
The unit is bound to be an extra burden to tax-payers who feel that the MPs’ pay is more than they deserve.
An MP enjoys a salary and allowances of over Sh800,000 a month, in addition to a Sh8 million mortgage facility and a Sh3 million car grant.
At the moment a police post at County Hall takes care of the MPs’ security needs, beefed up by the in-house parliamentary orderlies headed by the sergeant-at-arms.
The move comes hot on the heels of a decision by the Parliamentary Service Commission, chaired by the Speaker, to increase the daily allowances of regular police officers who provide security for the 222 MPs.
The unit will join others, that include the para-military General Service Unit as well as the anti-terrorism, maritime, airports, railways, anti-stock theft, tourist, anti-narcotics and special crime prevention units.
Earlier in the year, ODM MPs Melitus Mugabe Were (Embakasi) and Kimutai arap Too of Ainamoi were gunned down in Nairobi and Eldoret respectively.
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API//Source.nation.ke
