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{
    "id": 1527553,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1527553/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 309,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I have seen that Sen. Murgor has proposed a Third Schedule that talks about exemption of the NMK from payment of access fees, permit or license fees, and export fees for heritage research. I am not very sure what that entails. How I wish we put the entrance or access fees at very minimal to encourage more Kenyans to visit those museums. Recently the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife waived park access fees to our national parks to spur domestic tourism. I think it was a public holiday. What was witnessed, particularly at the Nairobi National Park is that there was serious traffic on Langata Road because Kenyans came out in numbers and families in hundreds and thousands to go to the Nairobi National Park simply because the entry fee had been waived. If we cannot get rid of the access fees to our museums, perhaps we should have national heritage days when citizens can go to those museums. As I have said, the NMK here in Nairobi is mostly visited by students. If you come from a school in West Pokot, perhaps a visit to the the NMK is not an option because the distance is great and the cost is very high. So, you will find that it only serves metropolitan students or people. Many children still go through the education system without seeing what is contained in the NMK. This Bill, in giving effect to the Fourth Schedule, should see to it that the 22 regional museums are handed over to county governments. Nyeri and Kisumu counties have museums. In Migori, we have Thimlich Ohinga, which is a protected site that captures an ancient Luo civilization. These should now go to the county governments. If they are going to county governments, functions should be accompanied by funds. When we talk about aligning the existing law with the 2010 Constitution, it should be functions plus funds. We are allowing county governments to take over regional museums while at the same time allowing the NMK to continue managing or administering matters of national importance and national heritage. When doing division and allocation of revenue, we should clearly cost what it takes to finance the museum functions. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is not just the artefacts that are going to county governments, but also the human resource and personnel who have been sitting in Nairobi at the NMK. We need to be careful about how we delineate and transfer the staff as well as the artefacts to the county governments. This Bill refers to antiquities and protected objects and that has mirrored the existing legislation. I read somewhere that there are about 30,000 antiques and protected objects relating to Kenyan civilization and Kenyan culture sitting in western museums and private collections. There is a project driven by guilt, particularly from the western world. They took many items from Africa. In Kenya, it has been documented that 30,000 objects estimated have been taken away. Some are in France, UK and New York. There is a project driven by guilt and trying to run away from restitution, where they are proposing to use advanced new technology, that is 3-Dimension (3D), to print artefacts and bring them back to Africa while the original ones continue to stay in private collections or public museums in the West. That is completely unacceptable. We cannot The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}