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{
    "id": 530874,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/530874/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 161,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Onyura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12833,
        "legal_name": "Michael Aringo Onyura",
        "slug": "michael-aringo-onyura"
    },
    "content": "level. I do not see how the public is going to participate if some of the key documents that they are supposed to be using in participation when it comes to contributions on legislation or views are in a language that the majority of people in this nation do not understand or are not competent in. All public and official documents should, as a matter of routine, be translated into Kiswahili, given that it is a national language. How can we be saying this is our national language and yet we need Parliament or somebody to be urging those who are charged with this duty to translate documents into it? It is something that should just come routinely. Whenever there is any document, we should have English and Kiswahili versions automatically. I want to thank those who have taken the responsibility of developing Kiswahili as a language. I know that we have many research bodies, centres and educational institutions that have taken the issue of researching and developing Kiswahili very seriously. They should continue with that job. This is normal for languages. Languages develop. Languages borrow from each other. We have many words in English that perhaps have originated from Greek, French or Hebrew. So, we should encourage such bodies to continue with the good work that they are doing to develop Kiswahili. I am sure that the use of Kiswahili including reading documents in Kiswahili is fairly popular. I noticed this experience at the time when the draft Constitution was being discussed. I remember many sessions of civic education on the draft Constitution. It was the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC), the precursor of the current Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC),that had printed quite a number of documents both in Kiswahili and English. Many times whenever I carried some of them back to the village level, I found that the Kiswahili version was very popular and people would keep asking for more of them. Further to that, if you tune into some of these radio stations, particularly all these FM radio stations, you find that the Kiswahili ones are very popular. It is just that we have taken long to realise that need. Translating our laws and the Constitution into Kiswahili will encourage people to read and be aware. As it is said: “Ignorance of the law is no defence.” We must be able to create an environment and give the facilities for people to be aware and to read for themselves. This will also encourage people to get away from the saying that they do not need to read these laws because “ Baba ” or “Chairman”, as is said, has read them. Let them read for themselves. It will make a difference even in terms of civic awareness. If the missionaries had come and left their Bible in foreign languages or English, perhaps they would not have made the kind of impact that they made. Not only did they translate the Bible into a language like Kiswahili, but they also went further and translated it into vernacular languages. This has made a lot of difference. You go into the villages and you get an old mama who can extensively quote for you from her vernacular Bible verses and chapters. So, it is something that we need to encourage. Once they have been translated, I would recommend that they are packaged in user-friendly, convenient to carry around and easy to read formats. That is also important as it encourages the readership. I know that we have had novels translated into Kiswahili. We have had classics translated into Kiswahili by prominent people like Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. That is the direction that we should be going. 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."
}