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{
"id": 422239,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/422239/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "March 5, 2014 SENATE DEBATES 41 Sen. Ong’era",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. May I also begin by commending Sen. Dullo and Sen. Lesuuda, for moving and seconding this very important Motion, respectively. This Motion could not have come at a more opportune time, especially now that this week we are celebrating the Women’s Day. It could not even have come at a more opportune time, than when you are presiding over on this occasion as we celebrate Ms. Lupita Amondi Nyong’o. Madam Temporary Speaker, as you are aware, Ms. Lupita Nyong’o took home the academy award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “ 12 Years a Slave.” She solidified her place as the queen in many people’s hearts in Kenya and the world. I was even surprised to check on Facebook that the Mexicans were actually celebrating her more than us here in Kenya. Madam Temporary Speaker, Ms. Lupita is our daughter. Although we thank her parents for having brought this child to the world, she has now become a child of this world. Her achievement has been great because she not only topped many great and seasoned actresses, for example, Jennifer Lawrence, for this award, but also received a standing ovation; a thing that rarely happens for black Africans in the Oscars. Her words to our youth; that no matter where you come from, your dreams are valid, are really encouraging. It means that youth from my village in Otachi, children who do not have shoes – like I went to school without shoes – can aspire to be great actresses of the world. They can aspire to be the great Lupitas and Presidents of this world, like President Obama. What Ms. Lupita has done for our youth is to put them in their place of history; that they too, no matter where they have come from, can be the children of this world and the very great actors and actresses of tomorrow. Madam Temporary Speaker, I want to come now to the local scene. When we look at the local content in this country, many of our great actors, who could be the Lupita Nyong’os had they gotten the opportunity, are not taken into consideration, respected or acknowledged. I have in mind our great actors like Inspector Mwala, the children in Machachari – Fatso and Stella – and actors and actresses in the Mother-in-Law Programme that we watch as local content. These actors and actresses have been thoroughly ignored by our country. I will be very happy to see a situation in this country where we would develop something almost like the Oscar Awards ceremony, where we can recognize our very own actors and actresses in this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, I want to challenge our national Government, particularly at this time when we are all sending Ms. Lupita Nyong’o messages of congratulations. Can we also think about developing and enhancing the Nairobi Academy of Performing Arts, so that especially the youth can enroll and be trained, so that they can also become the Lupita Nyong’os of tomorrow? I would be very happy to see that in this academy will have programmes on research and curricula like classic ballet, perhaps, which many of us, especially our rural children, have not heard about, but it is a great curriculum in the performing arts. There are also things like salsa and hip-hop dance. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}