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{
"id": 1520631,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1520631/?format=api",
"text_counter": 225,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Caroli Omondi",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Let me begin by clarifying to the world that, in spite of Hon. Oundo’s sentiment that probably Hon. Ndindi Nyoro and I are probably serial inheritors, we are serial monogamists. I have no problem with widowed women remarrying, but just do not call it inheritance. We all deserve companionship. Article 11 of our Constitution declares culture as the foundation of our nation. This Bill seeks to actualise Article 11(3) of the Constitution, which calls for the monetisation of culture and cultural norms of communities, where the use of our culture can generate compensation in terms of royalties that are paid to various communities. That is the main purpose of this Bill. Culture is our cumulative civilisation that is expressed in very many forms. If you look at the Bill, it includes art, representation of culture, artistic, historical monuments, archaeological artefacts, ethnological interests, works of art, manuscripts, archives, literature, articles of furniture and musical instruments. It is also religious, social and economic. It is the accumulation of all the civilisation and knowledge of a people at any particular point in time. Culture, by nature, is not static; it changes. Thus, we can still achieve a national culture. If you study most of the cultural practices, norms, ethnology, or historical archaeological artefacts, you will find that they are expressions of various ideas borrowed from different people at different times. I believe that if we work hard, we can still achieve a national culture for Kenya, drawing from the best of every community. Much of the culture we know today will, in a few years, be considered archaic or, as the English taught us, repugnant to justice and morality. Let me also acknowledge that this particular Bill seeks to create a framework to monetise culture for communities. Culture, in itself, is very difficult to patent because, as you see in the Bill, it belongs to a wide scope of people called a community, which could consist of a million or even ten million people. Creating a patent or a legal framework to monetise it is very difficult for individuals. This Bill seeks to create a legal framework through which communities can monetise their culture through cultural industries. To reinforce my conviction that we are still in a motion to create a completely new culture, I want to quote the words of a famous English poet that I really like, Lord Tennyson, from his poem Ulysses . It says: “I am part of all that I have met.” This means that every interaction you have with someone else should enrich you, and you should borrow the cultural 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."
}