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{
    "id": 661073,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/661073/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 314,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we should tell the stories as they happened. A story that needs to be told over and over again is that of the Mau Mau . Recently, a young man grew dreadlocks on his head and the parents were against it. The young man in reply said that he was emulating the Mau Mau, as they were in the forest. That is a re-enactment of an understanding of what it means to belong to a particular generation. For a long time, we have struggled with identity as a country of shared cultural heritage. Sometimes back, a group was tasked to look for a Kenyan outfit, costume and norm. We did not end up with a costume that became popular. We eventually came up with a costume after various trials, but I do not think that it became popular. We can have multilevel identities; at a national level and various community levels. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, all these should catapult into something key that can also earn revenues in the county governments. When you travel to various countries, you will discover that they develop their various sites or statues. When you go on tour and pay for the bus to take you round, you will be told about the statues and what they are all about. You will also be informed about the heroes of those communities as well as their artifacts. That is lacking in our country. Imagine if someone went to all the places that have been mentioned; the crying stone, the kayas and vigango in the Coast and the Rift Valley, where we have the wildebeest migration. All those are capable of attracting a lot of revenue and income. In Clause 24 of this Bill, there is a provision that has been put in place on the benefit sharing from specific cultural activities, where money is collected and should be distributed. The mandate to decide on that distribution has been given to the Cabinet Secretary, but when we will be looking at the amendments, it is important to give proportions and be clear. If it is a benefit that is coming from the communities, we should have a clear proportion of how it can be shared. That way, whenever people go for tours, they will enjoy themselves. The Bomas of Kenya has been mentioned as a one-stop place where schools go to see how different ethnic communities coordinated and danced. However, overtime that has diminished. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is a well thought and conceptualized Bill. It provides for civil action and remedies. The main conflict that is predetermined and premeditated by this Bill is with regard to areas where we have a shared culture by two communities. It is clearly indicated that each community will record and document that particular culture. Therefore, they will take their sphere of that culture, while the other community will take another sphere of that very culture. Other rights and remedies are also identified. There are very clear ideas about public consultation that will take place. That should give a very vibrant situation where people can talk more about their traditional systems and cultures and how to document them. Issues such as moral rights that are key and critical in each of these communities should be given a voice. If this Bill is enacted into law we will not only transform ourselves at our cultural level. The basis and foundation of any society is the cultures that they have. This should be entrenched even to a point of moving some of these things to the syllabus, so that some of the documented issues on cultural knowledge can become part and parcel of our curriculum. This will ensure that the young people grow up understanding how names are 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"
}