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{
    "id": 570803,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/570803/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Just a few months ago, we witnessed the beatification of Sister Irene Stefani. This was a great event for those who profess the Christian faith and particularly those who come from the Catholic Church. If you recall, we were informed by the good Senator for Nyeri that beatification is one step towards Heaven and those who do not understand how the Christian faith works were left amazed that individuals can have such a definite path and a definite destiny to Heaven. Madam Temporary Speaker, many of the Senators in this House, you will find that they are children or grandchildren of missionaries or people who gave up their lives to spread the word and adopted a new religion. Through that, they embraced education and raised their children to become leaders of the independent nation and to become successive leaders up to today. It is unfortunate that Sister Irene Stefani who did a splendid job and died a young girl in the jungles of Africa, was beatified but we have never taken time to think about our grandfathers and grandmothers who despite great hostility from those people who wanted them to retain and continue embracing their culture, they gave that up and adopted a new culture and religion called Christianity or Islam. I hope when we go to these county halls of fame, we will recognize some of these early pioneers who, through their conviction, ensured that certain parts of this country adopted modern education and modern health practices and gave rise to the generation that has led this country since Independence. Madam Temporary Speaker, while we were beatifying Sister Irene Stefani, it is ironical that we were able to find where she was buried but to date nobody has been able to tell us where Dedan Kimathi was buried. This tells us that our value system when it comes to recognition could be a little bit lopsided. Probably, if it was not for the efforts of the Catholic Church, Sister Irene Stefani, would still be lying somewhere in a grave. We must make sure that as we recognize some of the people who came from outside the country to do things in this nation, we also think about our local heroes. We have also used monuments previously for recognition but unfortunately they have been used as tools of political domination. When the Whitemen were in this country, they started with monuments of the royalty, that is, the king and the queen. These were the first monuments in this country. They were opened with a lot of funfair. After that, they put up monuments of colonialists. It is a good thing that the monument of Lord Delamere was pulled down. After that, we went into monuments of those who were in the ruling class. We had monuments of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and afterwards, it was monuments of the former President Moi. Madam Temporary Speaker, monuments have been used as tools of political domination. I want to say on the Floor of this House that President Kibaki never set up a monument for himself instead he ensured that we set up a monument for the Late Tom Mboya and Dedan Kimathi. He had the choice to set up one for himself so that he could be immortalized and worshipped for the rest of his life but he made the noble decision not to put up his own monument. He thought about Dedan Kimathi and Tom Mboya. How I wish that successive generations will also think of themselves less and think of others more. 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."
}