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"id": 247428,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ahenda",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you, for giving me this opportunity. Let me take this early opportunity to add my voice in supporting the proposed Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is rather late for such a Bill to come at this time. It should have been there yesterday or in the previous Parliament. Our cultural values have been lost all over. I am glad the Minister has just talked about visiting other museums the world over and indeed I had the privilege of visiting some British museums where I found our Kenyan artefacts lying there and earning them good revenue. The pre-historic man was discovered in Kenya and yet his bones are preserved in the British museums. Such a legislation will help us to trace all the Kenyan artefacts lying all over the world so that we can bring them back to our museums. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the legislation will help us also to conserve our cultural and heritage values. Some of our cultural and heritage values are dying very fast thereby our great grandchildren might not even be able to trace them. This Bill will help us to conserve and preserve those values for posterity so that our grandchildren and great grandchildren could visit the museums and have a look at them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we all know that cultural values die fast, however, we do not notice them. This is because of the changing of civilisations which comes about with new cultural values in our communities. If we do not preserve our cultural heritage, our great grandchildren will never appreciate our ways of life. Therefore, this Bill is very timely. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the moment, there are some species of birds, plants and animals that are almost becoming extinct. Many of us may not notice this, but it is happening. Unless we preserve them in our museums, they will become extinct. Our grandchildren and great grandchildren will never have an opportunity to see them. Today, we have got very few lions in our parks. A few years ago, they were roaming all the streets of Nairobi. This Bill ought to have been brought to this House yesterday, so that we preserve our heritage for our posterity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to come up with a piece of legislation which will enable us to trace our artifacts preserved in foreign countries. If they are traced, this country will earn the much needed foreign exchange revenue. It is a pity that our artifacts are found in foreign museums. I remember a few years ago, the Ethiopian Government traced their artifacts preserved in Italy. They were taken there by the colonialists. Kenya should also follow the same route so that we trace and bring back all our artifacts that are preserved in foreign museums. June 13, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1291 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have foreigners in this country collecting our artifacts. If this Bill is enacted, it will stop such people from collecting our artifacts in the rural areas. We should not allow them to do so in Maasailand. Tourists who are interested in seeing our artifacts and heritage should pay a visit to our museums instead of roaming in the rural areas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should establish cultural centres in the provincial headquarters. This will help researchers and tourists get cultural information at the provincial level instead of them going all the way to the National Museum in Nairobi. I suggest that we have diversification of collection of cultural artifacts that emanate from different cultures at different provincial levels. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support this Bill."
}