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{
    "id": 1483134,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1483134/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 298,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Rachael Nyamai",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13374,
        "legal_name": "Richard Ken Chonga Kiti",
        "slug": "richard-ken-chonga-kiti"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I support this Bill that has been brought by Hon. Wanyama, who is the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Sports and Culture. I also want to thank Hon. Charles Nguna for putting a lot of effort in it. This is a very important Bill. There was a big attempt to pass it in the 11th Parliament, but it was not completed. It is here with us again so that this august House - the 13th Parliament - can pass it. Now that it is in the debate stage, I believe it will go all the way to the end. The many amendments that have been suggested through public participation will be passed. I went through the Report and saw that the Committee reached out to stakeholders in that sector like the Kenya National Library Service. They gave very good suggestions on how this can be done. I agree with Hon. Members who spoke before me like the Member for Kilgoris, Hon K.J. and Hon Millie Odhiambo. They suggested that we should not devolve libraries because they need proper buildings, the best human resource, storage for both hard and soft copies, and linkages at the international level. If this is left to the counties, we may end up losing because they may lack financial and technical capacity as well as international linkages. They also reached out to the Kenya Library Association, Council of Governors (CoG) and many other stakeholders in order to enrich this Bill. I believe in the Third Reading, it will be more enriched. Kenya will be joining the other countries that have national libraries like Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, USA, Belgium and Denmark, where I went to school. Denmark encourages the reading culture. In fact, they start with the Danish language so that their children can be experts and understand the Danish culture. In Africa, we have many other countries like Algeria and Angola with national libraries. Therefore, Kenya will be doing what other countries have done. I join other Members in appreciating this very important Bill. It will help us pick from where Hon K.J. has left. Last week, we were debating the matter of having museums in our counties. There should be a linkage between museums and libraries so that we can secure books, journals and stories not only in English, but in our native languages too like Kiswahili. We have realised that data is not just data, but it can be used for economic purposes. We have seen people enriching themselves through story-telling in their own language on YouTube. This is then translated to other languages and they end up making some money. This is not only for preservation of culture, but also for economic value. Today, we have young people who are highly talented. You should have seen the talent we had at the university. Hon K.J. and I used to act, but I did not do it the way he did. I wish I was recorded like Hon K.J. I was so beautiful and you should have seen me dance. All that is lost and I wish it was recorded. When I try to dance like I did at the university, it does not come out well. If it was recorded, you could have seen 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."
}