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{
"id": 110738,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/110738/?format=api",
"text_counter": 428,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyangâ-Nyongâo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Medical Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 193,
"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
"slug": "peter-nyongo"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support this Draft Constitution. Like my friend, Mr. Nanok, has said, with amendments that will make it a better document. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, every Constitution like this has certain principles upon which a nation or a political system is founded. The principles which are fundamental to a Constitution is to uphold the right and dignity of its people and provide them with an environment as equal citizens to develop and prosper; provided with an environment as equal citizens to develop and prosper, particularly in a Republic. If it was a monarchy, it would be a different thing. But in a modern Republic, the principle of equality of citizenship and the principle of freedom, dignity and prosperity are cardinal to the foundation of modern Republics since the French Revolution. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, our experience since Independence is, although we were founded as a sovereign Republic, the system of Government since then has denied equality of citizenship, the dignity of citizens, prosperity of all these citizens and the fact that they entered this Republic to enjoy human rights. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, right from Independence one of the reasons why Kenyans have become so fearful of the imperial presidency is that we moved from a self-governing State to a Republic without electing our President. The late Jomo Kenyatta kept on ruling this country up to 1978 without, at any time, being elected by the people. When Daniel Arap Moi took over in 1978, he equally ruled this country for 24 years without being elected by the people. The dignity, equality and sovereign rights of these citizens were denied for all those years. Kenyans did not elect their President until the year 2002; the NARC elections which became a breather to all Kenyans. Indeed, after the 2002 elections, Kenyans became the most positive people globally. But, that again, was denied after a very short time because the system of Government that we had was still based on Presidential authoritarian rule. This led us to the election of 2007 where although citizens expressed their sovereignty and right as dignified individuals in this nation to elect a democratic Government, again, that authoritarian Presidential system landed this nation into a crisis. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is why this moment that we have this time to have a Constitution which, for the first time since Independence, will get rid of Presidential authoritarianism and establish a modern democratic Republic, respecting and promoting the dignity, the rights and the freedom of Kenyans, is a golden opportunity that must not be lost. Let me also remind you that although we had the Bill of Rights and we have the Bill of Rights in the current Constitution, because of this Presidential authoritarian system, this Parliament has in the past enacted laws which were against those Bill of Rights. The detention law that was enacted in 1965 was fundamentally contrary to the Bill of Rights in our Constitution. The enactment of Section 2 (A) into the Constitution making this country a one party State in 1982, was fundamentally against the Bill of Rights in that same Constitution. But because we had a Presidential authoritarian system, this Parliament lost its dignity and its respect of the Kenyan people by enacting into law unconstitutional laws which went ahead to stifle the freedom of the rights of Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when members of the Republic begin debating critically this Draft Constitution, let them not be stifled because every voice is important and every opinion matters in the making of a constitution. Although opinions may differ from ours, but in the final analysis, they must be heard because John Stewart Mills once said, if you get 100 people, 99 may be of the same opinion and one might be different but that one person who has a different opinion has as much right as the other 99. We do not know that 20 to 30 or 100 years from today, that opinion may be the opinion that may save human beings. Otherwise, what you hear about Galileo; when he said that the earth was round, but the church and the establishment insisted the earth was flat and Galileo was committed to execution because of being different. Today, astronomy and geography would not have developed the way they have, if Galileoâs voice had completely been stifled. I am not worried about dissenting opinions on the Constitution, I am much more concerned about people realising that the fundamental principles of a modern democratic Republic must be maintained and any opinion being expressed should not be expressed contrary to those fundamental values that Kenyans have always struggled for. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when people are saying that the Constitution has struggled for 20 years, they are not being faithful to history. As far as I know, the struggle for a new Constitution after Independence started in 1965, the moment Kenyans realised that they were in for a rough time under a Presidential authoritarian system. If that struggle had not started then, the Kenya Peopleâs Union (KPU) would not have been born as a party. I was in high school when the KPU was born and we became the first members of the party youth league. At that point in time, our clarion call to the Kenyan people was: Let us rise up and look for another Uhuru, because as far as we were concerned, Uhuru had not yet been born. That is the reason why the second Republic is to be born; we have been struggling for the second liberation because of the negation of the principles of a sovereign democratic Republic that the Presidential authoritarian regime imposed on this country since Independence. Many people have given up their lives and have suffered in the search for this second liberation. When I was at the university in 1977 and I taught in the university from then to 1982, I had to flee this country because of the same authoritarian system. There were many people who gave up their lives and their times and sacrificed to raise their voices so that this second liberation should come about. I can remember Rev. Lawson Imunde who was detained simply because he wrote in his diary the iniquities of the one party system. I can remember Mwalimu Mukaru Ngâangâa who finally died because of his commitment to the second liberation, Titus Adungosi, the student leader who was tortured in prison and died under mysterious circumstances and nobody has ever known what killed Adungosi. I can remember my friend Katama Mkangi, also deceased; Ngugi wa Thiongâo; Edward Okongâo Oyugi, still alive; Oduor Ongâwen; Dr. Willy Mutunga; Prof. Micere Mugo; Prof. Tim Odhiambo, deceased; Hastings Okoth Ogendo, deceased; Mike Owen, deceased; Apollo Njonjo, deceased; and Prof. Michael Chege and many others, who in those days did so much to ensure that we do and we have resistance."
}