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"id": 1059123,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1059123/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
"speaker": {
"id": 376,
"legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
"slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
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"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. At the outset, I support the Bill. Even as I support it, I noted that you are challenging my good friend, Hon. K.J, on whether he is still a comedian now that he referred to Redykyulass. He is still a comedian if he thinks that the hustler nation can take the country anywhere. He is true to form. Having said that, with regard to the Bill, I agree with the Members that, as a country, we still need libraries and we must promote a reading culture. In my constituency, I have started something called “Drop Everything and Read” or D.E.A.R Suba North to encourage a reading culture especially amongst girls, given that Homa Bay County is leading in early marriages. Earlier today, as the Kenya Chapter of Parliamentarians for Global Action, we met together with “Girls Not Brides”. We want to ensure that we push this agenda to enforce a reading culture. At one point, even before I came to Parliament, I visited my constituency with my mother. The young girls were shocked that at her age, my mother was able to address them in very good English and Kiswahili. As we progress, you see the reverse happening. You would expect the younger generation to be doing much better. Instead, we are doing much worse. One of the hallmarks of the Luo nation was that if you gave them a microphone, they would address you in very good English. They still do, but if you connect the dots, the English is sometimes impressive but you are left with queries. There are many people, especially among the younger generation, who will not address you. Not that English is a measure of intelligence, but it is a medium of instruction. It shows that most of us have fallen by the wayside. I had brought it as a Motion in the previous Parliament, but I will bring it as an amendment to the Education Act that our medium of instruction must be the same in the whole country. You cannot expect to have one medium of instruction for a child in Turkana and another one in English for a child in Nairobi and they sit for the national exams in the same language. You also do not expect our children to have a reading culture when you teach them different languages at lower levels, but the books that you will introduce them to, including the ones the Members have so elaborately stated, are not written in mother tongue. They are written in English and at the worst, in Swahili. We must also equalise education in order for us to further this culture. I will be proposing several amendments to the Bill. If you look at the definitions, for instance, the way we define the word “book”, even though we are alluding to the fact that we are trying to digitise, the definition of the word “book” has no inference to the word “digitisation”. So, we need to add that. The definition of the word “member” is confusing because “member” refers to the member of the board. But in the body of the Bill, the word “member” refers to a member of the library. That is confusing and so; we need to look into that. The other issue is that we are talking about the national library within the Bill, but also defining the national library service as something different from the national library. We are also confusing terms there. We need to look at the definitions and include the definition of the term “national library” in addition to the term “national library services”. Also, the definition of the term “national library service” itself is a bit confusing. I will be proposing a better definition. Again, when referring to the term “newspaper”, I know in the normal parlance we were brought up with, we referred to them as newspapers. That is because they were papers. However, The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}