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"speaker_name": "Mr. Musyimi",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to, perhaps, just recap some of the points that I made yesterday. We were discussing the issue of the way this Kenya that we call our home came about. We argued that Kenya did not develop organically, but rather through imperial conquest. It was not by social convergence and like other colonies, it was ruled, sometimes, in ways that were not exactly facilitative of the citizens. Whereas history tells us how we came about, it does not tell us who we are. I was seeking to support this Bill because it gives us an instrument or vehicle that allows this discussion to come into the public domain or realm. This question about who we are has been with us really since Independence. As I sought to argue yesterday, we say that there are areas in which we can legitimately differ and still remain Kenyan. Those areas are, for example, our cultures, religions, political parties, professions, ethnic groups, communities to which we belong, our gender for that matter and so on. However, there are areas in which if we differ, we impair our very existence and nationhood. It is not possible that this should be allowed by a State that wants to exist or to have a future as, indeed, we saw at the beginning of this year. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the burden of this Bill, as, indeed, will be the burden of other Bills such as the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission Bill, but supremely, the Constitution Review Bill, is to bring this discussion to the public domain. It would seem to me that there are values that we must negotiate as a people. There are values that we need to define and agree upon together and say that these are the values that are non-negotiable and by which we must learn to exist. Such are the values that need to guide us as a country. For example, in our commitment to the value of democracy, we decide the persons who govern us as a Kenyan people. There is also the value of freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of worship and freedom from violence. This is the value we call liberty; that is, the freedom to pursue our advantages without restraint. However, as R.H. Towaey said, and I quote: \"Equality as a value is the social restraint that comes upon us as individuals for the public good.\" So, although we have the freedom, it must be exercised with restraint. So, we need the value of equality and we need to be equal before the law so that all of us are treated by the law without any favour. There is also the value of tolerance. The long and short of all these is that we need to agree on core values as a people; values without which we cannot and will not survive as a nation. We need to remind ourselves of the need 1640 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 3, 2008 to say something like this:- \"I have a right to be a Luo, but the duty to be a Kenyan. You have the right to belong to a political party, but the duty to be a Kenyan. You have the right to be a Muslim, but the duty to be a Kenyan. You have the right to be an atheist, but the duty to be a Kenyan. You have the right to make money, but the duty to make that money with the warfare of Kenyan in mind.\" Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, although there are rights, there are duties that we must embrace and accept as duties that make us a people. We need to affirm each others' right to belong to their religions, parties and ethnic communities. However, the expression of that right should never infringe on the rights of other people. This is what I think Mr. Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister called \"the right to be different, but the duty to integrate\". So, this is really what this Bill seeks to do, that is, to give us the vehicle, platform and instrument around which to discuss these core values. Unless we accept these values, it is going to be very difficult to negotiate our way around the difficult situations such as we saw early this year. May I, as I come to a conclusion, perhaps, just indicate the five instruments that we know in society affect us in terms of the world views that determine who we are. Families are very key. Family values, that is, what we say to our children and relatives, the religions we belong to, what we teach in our temples, mosques and churches, the education system we adopt, the curricula in our schools, the media with all its freedoms and responsibilities, politics and so on. We know politics is power and it can be exercised in the right manner or wrong manner. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill. I think it is a good Bill. I think it is right to remind ourselves of the right to be different, but the duty to integrate. We will be looking at Clause 13(1) which says that the objects and purpose for which the Commission is established is to facilitate and promote equality of opportunity, good relations, harmony, peaceful co-existence between persons of different ethnic communities of Kenya, and to advise the Government on all aspects thereof et cetera . I would have wished to see this particular subsection panned out a little more, so that in Clause 13(1) we spend more time discussing the values, although, perhaps, we have not negotiated them. Maybe we should put them in the Bill as a suggestion to the people. These are core values that will guide the functions of this particular Bill once it becomes law."
}