Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 106317,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/106317/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 348,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Namwamba",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "36 Thursday, 8th April, 2010(P) We are talking about ghosts that have disturbed the conscience and the soul of our motherland for a long time. I just want to say that a society that is split or a society that is not at peace with itself, cannot pretend to be a united society. Sometimes, when we talk about national unity and national cohesion, those terms mean nothing more than clichés unless we move with deliberate action to ensure that everybody feels a proud part of the whole; the whole that is Kenya. When we talk about being proud to be Kenyan; “being Kenyan” could mean very different things to different people. Therefore, this is an opportunity for us to start asking ourselves and start interrogating the very notion of being Kenyan. I believe it was President Jefferson who once said: “Unless there is peace, justice, liberty and for all, there can be no peace, justice and liberty for any.” Until this country opens doors of opportunity to everybody and everybody feels at ease and that they feel they belong, nobody can feel safe. We have had a sad history. Perhaps, we are not the only country in the face of the earth which has had a disturbed history. The State of South Africa, one of the shining examples in this continent today, has had a terrible past. Talk about segregation, apartheid and differences amongst communities. However, what sets that State apart is that they have deliberately moved to address those historical injustices. They have deliberately moved to take deliberate steps to forge what they have come to christen or to baptize as “The Rainbow Nation”. A State like the United States, what is held and hoisted as a paragon of democracy and equality, is a state that has had a very sad history. Communities like the American natives have suffered through history, some of the worst gross injustices ever. However, what sets the United States apart is that they have also taken deliberate measures to correct these injustices. When I was going to the university in the US--- I attended a university which had very interesting scholarship programmes. For instance, they had a scholarship programme specifically for Americans of Indian descent, what they call the Native Americans. That was a scholarship that you could only compete for if you belonged to that community. They also had scholarships for African Americans. Unless you were an African American, you could not compete for such a scholarship. That is a small example of how that society has made deliberate efforts to raise those segments of society that have historically been left behind. These are the examples that this country must start to borrow and implement. As we talk about a new Constitutional dispensation, the way to go is the way hon. Affey is leading us by way of this Bill. This Bill, by seeking to repeal a law that has almost turned almost a half of this country into a special zone, what amazes most is that even if this law came into being at the height of colonial repression, successive governments in this country have upheld it and allowed it to sit pretty in our statute books. Indeed, that this law has existed with us for 47 years, since Independence, is one of our greatest tragedies of our existence as a State. Sometimes you wonder why our nation is so restless. It is because of these ghosts that, if left unattended or unburied, they can only disturb the conscience of this nation. Today, I stand here happy that I have the honour of being a Member of a House that has taken on the challenge of redressing these wrongs through this kind of legislation. This is the dream of any legislature. I believe that the dream of any legislature is to live and represent our people at a moment such as this, when you have the opportunity to correct wrongs that ought not to have been in the first place. That such a law was even ever enacted in this country is atrocious and goes to demonstrate the depths to which the human mind can sink in an attempt to repress and marginalize."
}