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{
    "id": 530834,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/530834/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 121,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "By inserting the words “the Constitution,” immediately after the word “translating” appearing in the fourth last sentence. I want to congratulate hon. Lay for thinking and bringing this Motion to this House. Literacy level in this country is known. A good number of Kenyans are not able to read and understand English. Even those who are barely literate have very low command of the English Language. Kiswahili is widely spoken across the country. As a country, we want to be proud that we have a language that we speak and communicate on extensively. If you look at the provisions of Article 10, namely, values and good governance, you realise that one of the values that are provided under Article 10, which I expect the President to address us on tomorrow, is with regard to the issue of national unity. You can only realise national unity if you have a language that unites the country. That is Kiswahili. We must congratulate and praise the former President, Daniel Arap Moi, who made Kiswahili a national language and which he gave prominence. We should also thank the education sector which made Kiswahili compulsory. That helped us when hon. Oluoch was going for a Kiswahili proficiency test before he became a Member of Parliament. I was lucky to get an exemption because I did Kiswahili in Form Four. Do not worry about whether I passed it or not, but I got some grade that was considered to be reasonable to come to this Parliament. I have included “the Constitution.” Hon. Lay provides in this Motion that all laws made in the National Assembly and the county assemblies should be translated in Kiswahili. However, the supreme law of the Republic, namely, the Constitution, was left out in the original Motion. That is why I have recommended that we add it. If you look at Article 3 of the same Constitution, which talks about the defence of this Constitution, it says that:- “Every person has an obligation to respect, uphold and defend this Constitution”. You can only respect, uphold and defend a document that you understand. Therefore, we need to make it possible for most Kenyans, if not all, to understand the supreme law of the land. As I wind up, I also want to take this House through Article 35 of the Constitution, which talks about access to information. The State has a responsibility to make sure that every Kenyan has access to information. That access to information also includes this Constitution. The final article that I want to take this House to is Article 259, which provides that:- “This Constitution shall be interpreted in a manner that-"
}