HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 422960,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/422960/?format=api",
"text_counter": 116,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Keynan",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 41,
"legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
"slug": "adan-keynan"
},
"content": "I thought I did. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I beg to move that the National Flag, Emblems and Names (Amendment) Bill, National Assembly Bill No. 23 of 2013, be read a Second Time. I am sorry. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I was just explaining that what informed the drafting of this amendment is that we have a new Constitution. The work of this Eleventh Parliament is to deal with all the legislations and Bills that are in place and that have been drafted and passed by all the previous Houses, from 1963 to 2010, when we promulgated the new Constitution. If you look at that particular Act, the old Act Cap.99 of the Laws of Kenya, it is actually obsolete. It gave a lot of prominence, first of all, to subsidiary legislation. In the Kenyan context, the first source of law is the Constitution, in every aspect. The second source of law is the statutes. The third is subsidiary legislations; the fourth, of course, is the customary law. I do not know whether these days, we have presidential decrees. We have something to do with international law. If you look at the Act as it exists, there are a number of office holders or serious constitutional offices that are not included in the utilisation of this very important national gadget called the National Flag. This is an instrument that is supposed to be used properly and with dignity. The current Act, which we intend to amend, gives a lot of powers to subsidiary legislation. The intention of this Bill is to entrench this law into the substantive law so that we do not have regulations--- Sometimes, regulations are very dangerous because they might not reflect the very spirit of that particular Act. This amendment, therefore, when passed it, will bring in clarity of law and ensure that we have an Act that is enforceable and implementable without taking away the very essence of providing national unity and symbolizing patriotism and nationalism and more so reflecting the institutional independence and the power that comes with it. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the intention here is to allow--- Pursuant to Article 95, we have a number of State officers. If we say that all State officers should fly the national flag, then that will be a national problem. Therefore, we must limit and ensure that, first of all, those who will be allowed to fly the national flag must be office holders that show some sort of national significance. Currently, all individuals all over fly the national flag on their vehicles. Let me clarify this point. It is the inherent constitutional right of each and every Kenyan to identify themselves with the national flag of Kenya. Therefore, this Bill does not take away the rights of each and every Kenyan to identify themselves with that beautiful flag of the Republic of Kenya. What this Bill intends to do is to limit the number of individuals who can use the national flag hoisted on their vehicles. This is the distinction. This is only applicable to those who want to use the national flag on their vehicles. If you are a Kenyan and you want to have the national flag somewhere in your house, office and so on, then you are perfectly in order. However, what we are saying is that this issue has become a menace. If you go to the streets, you will see the national flag somewhere on a bus, other places in the streets and others that I do not want to mention. We need to retain the respect and dignity that is restored on the national flag as a critical symbol of national unity. 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."
}