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{
"id": 555861,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/555861/?format=api",
"text_counter": 263,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. (Prof.) Nyikal",
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"speaker": {
"id": 434,
"legal_name": "James Nyikal",
"slug": "james-nyikal"
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"content": "what is created by the cohesion of the people who live there. You cannot create that cohesion unless you have a strong family unit where values are instilled. If you look at Article 10, you will see the values that we are looking at. Article 10 2(a) talks about patriotism, national unity, sharing, the ruling of law, democracy and participation of the people. In 10(2)(b) it talks about human dignity, equity, social justice and inclusiveness. Can we really, as a nation, have institutions or schools that instill these if people do not grow up with them? We can try in schools, but even what happens in schools is determined to a large extent--- By the time a child is seven or eight years old, their character and nature are almost completely formed. Therefore, the family is the only unit where we have the opportunity to instill this. The biggest challenge in this country, the way I see it, is actually the lack of values. The corruption that we are fighting in this country is because we do not have national values and we cannot have them until they are instilled at the family level; the product of it is marriage. With regard to the insecurity that we have, I once listened to a BBC documentary where they were asking: “Why is Kenya affected so much by Al-Shabaab, yet other countries which went into Somalia are not equally affected?” The response that somebody gave was that because of corruption it is very easy to breach the security systems in Kenya. I thought to myself: “Do we have a country that we can die for? Do we have a nation?” I concluded that we have a State born of papers. For me, it is at the family level where we have what we believe and what we can practise when we are at the table with our children. That is what will bring the change. That can only be done through a marriage. That same family unit is challenged by all the problems we have. Talk of poverty, unemployment, issues of single parenthood, divorce and domestic violence. Therefore, we must stabilise the family and marriage is the basis. Illegal and unsecured marriages like the come-we-stay one cannot be a basis on which we develop families that eventually will give us a nation. You do remember that when we were passing this law, we did not decline to legalise the come-we-stay arrangement. We gave it a period after which it becomes a marriage. Well, in a way we were exhibiting our nature as a nation. It is, therefore, important that we strengthen marriage. So, lengthy, difficult and costly procedures in the marriage process, in my view, must be eliminated. We need to reduce the costs, time, procedures, and then decentralize so that when you want to register your marriage you go to the nearest service point and get your marriage registered. This is extremely important, so that we do not let nature take its course. The forces that pull people into a marriage last a very short time. After a time, that beauty and emotion go! What you need is a serious commitment that must be established through registration of a marriage. Therefore, we must do that. We must be innovative and make it so easy that even the Huduma Centers we have today--- We can equip them and get our marriages registered there. I do not want to say much, but we must make it easy for people to register their marriages, so that we have a strong family base. With that, I support."
}