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{
    "id": 110603,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/110603/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 293,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Lands",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "Remembrance is a very important thing. Every country that forgets her history or even her heroes, is doomed to failure. There is a tradition that is emerging in Kenya that we tend to forget the people who stood against oppression in very oppressive times. Even if they are living heroes, we tend to forget them, except when it suits us to remember them once in a while. The preamble of the Declaration of the Rights of Man document which made the French Assembly in 1789, had the following words:- “The representatives of the French people constituted as a National Assembly believe that ignorance, forgetfulness or contempt of the rights of man are the only causes of public misfortunes and of the corruption of governments.” Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to concentrate on just two parts of that great citation from the Declaration of the Rights of Man which have been quoted over and over again. The first one is forgetfulness. How many times do we remember our people who fought hard? Some of them were detained. Some of them died in this struggle. How many times do we remember that after Independence, the process of unmaking the constitutional order was begun, not by a colonial power, but by our very own people who forgot the very reasons why our people fought to attain Independence? How many times do we forget that it was at the time when detention without trial became the order of the day that the culture of impunity started in this nation? Indeed, it is what brought about the corruption of our Government. So, as we make this basic law, let us not be like the English soldiers who said two centuries ago, that laws are for the guidance of the rich and mighty and for the obedience and oppression of the poor and weak. I say this because if you look at this Constitution, it makes it very clear that those who govern this country must take the oath of office. They must take the oath of office or rather the oath of solemn affirmation and an oath of allegiance. These oaths are set out on pages 185, 186 and 187. The President of the Republic, the Deputy President and the Cabinet Secretaries and the Members of Parliament are required to subscribe to these oaths before assuming office. In this affirmation oath, they swear to defend the Constitution and to govern in accordance with the spirit and letter of the Constitution. Many times, it is those who have taken the oath to defend and protect the Constitution who go against the very Constitution to corrupt the governing of the country. So, constitutions must bide rulers if they are documents which will last and bring about good governance. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in making this Constitution, we must understand what is the problem that we want to deal with. Why is it necessary for us to have a new Constitution? There is a time when in the struggle in the streets, people were fond of shouting and saying: “Moi must go!” That was the clarion call. But we have realized that even as Moi went, this country is still nearly in the same situation that it was."
}