Nairobi. Kenya will not relent in the fight against terrorist groups, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Friday.
The President defended proposed changes in security laws as necessary to end insecurity.
“An international war is happening in and outside
Kenya’s borders. We are also confronting highly trained and dangerously
armed combatants embedded in our communities and therefore our security
apparatus must be effective in managing the emerging threats.’’
Mr Kenyatta, who was addressing the 51st Jamhuri
Day celebrations in Nairobi, asked all political leaders to unite in the
war on terrorism.
He asked Parliament to pass the security Bill.
Those who have divergent opinions on the laws can offer suggestions in a
dignified manner, he said.
The celebrations at Nyayo National Stadium were
attended by thousands of people and three presidents — Mr Yoweri
Museveni (Uganda), Mr Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Ghana’s John Mahama.
Opposition leaders Raila Odinga and Moses Wetang’ula were also present.
Mr Kenyatta spoke for the first time about the
Security Laws (Amendments) Bill 2014 that sailed to the third stage in
Parliament on Thursday.
He said his government would not allow leaders to politicise issues of security when the lives of Kenyans were at stake.
Some sections of the Bill have been described by critics as ‘‘draconian, retrogressive and unconstitutional.’’
Among other measures it seeks the detention
without trial of terror suspects for up to a year, introduces media
censorship and removes the security of tenure of top security chiefs.
The President said the security system in the
country required reorganisation to confront the twin challenge of
domestic and international threats.
(NMG
“We have come to the conclusion that our laws are not adequate
enough to meet the new security challenges and the solution is that
Kenya must enhance its ability to detect, eliminate security threats and
also possess forensic capacity to prosecute terrorists,” said President
Kenyatta.
He said the proposed security law had not violated
the Constitution and condemned the chaos that rocked Parliament when it
was being discussed.
“Our Parliament sat to align our laws with the
country’s security needs as well as the standards expected by the
Constitution,” he said.(NMG