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{
    "id": 539379,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/539379/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 28,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Sunjeev",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13136,
        "legal_name": "Sunjeev Kour Birdi",
        "slug": "sunjeev-kour-birdi"
    },
    "content": "contributing to this Motion in Kiswahili. I have a few points which I think will be appreciated. At the outset, I would like to congratulate hon. Joyce Wanjalah Lay for bringing this Motion. Sometimes you wonder why some hon. Members bring some Motions which have no big sense. This Motion tells me one thing: If you take away the language of a group of people in a country, you take away their culture and when you take away their culture, you break down the community. When you break down the community, you are infiltrating their unity. A country that is not united is divided. Translating the Constitution into Kiswahili, as many of the hon. Members have said, is very right. We need citizens out there to understand the translation of the Constitution into Kiswahili. I would also like to take this further. Kiswahili is being spoken by more than 100 million people in the Eastern African region. The region being one of the main business and economic hubs in Africa, it is very important for investors and business people in total. So, having this common language is going to be highly beneficial for the business people. Having been taught Kiswahili in high school and letting it go is leaving something very important behind. I remember when I went to France, I realized that even if some people know and understand English, they will not speak to you in that language. They will speak to you in French. It makes you feel displaced. Where are we going wrong? Why are we forgetting our language? So, as a nation we should also put our feet down and get ourselves more involved in trying to promote our national language. Lastly, bringing our national language into the forefront and within every culture is breaking the barrier of ethnicity which I think is one of the biggest problems. It is the biggest vice of violence. So, I fully support this Motion. I once again thank Madam Joyce for bringing this Motion. Thank you very much, hon. Deputy Speaker."
}