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"speaker_name": "Sen. Billow",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I also rise to support the Motion on this very distinguished scholar. First and foremost, I wish to express my condolences to the family, friends and, indeed, the people of Kenya. I pray to the Almighty that he grants him his mercy. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, some of us may not have personally known him, but indeed, as many speakers have said, his works have touched many. I want to very briefly refer to some of the words that have been used to describe this distinguished scholar by some of his contemporary scholars and friends specifically, there is one Prof. Mohamed Haidara who was his classmate. To give a bit of background to the Members, Prof. Ali Mazrui was the son of one of the most distinguished and outstanding scholars and teachers in the whole of East and Central Africa in terms of Islamic leadership. His father was called Sheikh Al Amin bin Ali Mazrui. He was, in fact, a leading teacher and Islamic scholar in the whole of East and Central Africa. So, he was born in an environment, in Old Town, where there were many scholars, and teaching was one of the main things. Prof. Mohamed Haidara who was his classmate actually said that Prof. Mazrui developed interest, particularly in English and English Literature when they were in school. That was his area of excellence. He would always get distinction in those areas. That is how he ended up as a showpiece. Prof. Haidara says that he became a showpiece of potential African intellectual vigour and versatility. Of course, he left behind a legacy of a very informative and stimulating written literature, which he mesmerized many of us when we were in school and even now, many people in Africa. I agree with the Mover that we need to watch his documentary on the Triple Heritage of Africa . Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, of course, he had a lot of achievements. I was just reading a piece by Ngugi wa Thiong’o on how Prof. Mazrui ended up getting more positions in Makerere University when he had a problem in the University of Nairobi. He was teaching Creative English and Pan Africanism in the Political Science Department of Makerere University. This took him all the way to the United States of America (USA). You remember both of them ran away after they fell out with KANU government. They were always outspoken about human rights abuses in Kenya. That is why they ended up in exile. In fact, some of the people today, scholars and professors in this country who have been critical of the way African governments run their institutions, human rights abuses, political prisoners who were being held those days, are still out of the country. It is one of the things that the government really needs to look at. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the professor was also very prominent on one thing; challenging the dominance of western culture. He always talked about that subject, relative and in relation to the Islamic and the African culture. He talked about the fact that western culture was liberal. That is why it allowed him and others to survive in that environment. However, he always emphasized the need to enrich that western culture with some of the values that we find in the African, Islamic and in other Asian cultures. 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."
}