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{
    "id": 696016,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/696016/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 58,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Lentoimaga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2756,
        "legal_name": "Alois Musa Lentoimaga",
        "slug": "alois-musa-lentoimaga"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I thank Hon. Njuki for bringing this Bill to this House. I support it. Just like my colleagues have done, I support the idea that the Kenyatta Mausoleum should be opened to the public. This is because Jomo Kenyatta was a great person. Besides fighting for Independence, he laid the foundation for our country after independence. Colonialists feared that this country would go to the dogs. They thought that Africans cannot govern themselves. Kenyatta and his team made sure that they dispelled those rumours and bad wishes by laying the foundation for this country and making this country stand on its own. In my view, the mausoleum should be opened to the public because it is part of our heritage and history. It also restores patriotism because it makes us remember. Even the young people who have never seen Kenyatta but have only read about him in newspapers or history books can now see for themselves and confirm that Kenyatta’s body is in that mausoleum. In fact, sometimes back, rumours were going round that Mzee Kenyatta was not buried there but was taken somewhere else. I have travelled to France, Italy and Morocco and visited the tombs and mausoleums of kings and popes. In France, even a dictator like Louis XVI, who was deposed during the French Revolution in 1789, has a mausoleum, even if he was “killed” or guillotined together with the wife. Even though it was a very bloody and negative day for the family of the king, those people portray the history of France. Tourists go there now and pay a fee. You can see the casket of the king. It is the same as those of the popes from time immemorial. You can see the tombs of the popes in Rome because they are not hidden. In this country, there was a time when it was being said that after 30 years, all the secrets must be made public. Kenyatta died more than 30 years ago. Why should we not make his mausoleum open to the public so that our people can know what is there and pay a fee? If tourists come here and go back, they will say that they did not see anything good in Kenya until they visited the Kenyatta Mausoleum. Those are landmarks. Even when you go to France, unless you go to the Mausoleum of Louis XVI or the tower, you cannot say that you have gone to Paris. This is a landmark which we need to make public. Hon. Deputy Speaker, Kenyatta was jailed in my county just before Independence. It is like he was being prepared. He even wrote his famous book, Facing Mount Kenya, when he was in Maralal. We value that house even at the moment. There are beds, beddings, chairs and small artefacts. We need to improve them so that our children can view them. Why did he write that book? It is because the house where he was put under house arrest is on a hill and in the morning from 6.00 a.m. to 8.00 a.m. you could see Mount Kenya if you faced the south. It disappears at 8.00 a.m. because of the weather. At one time, he used to sneak out of the house which was facing Mount Kenya. One time the colonialists discovered that he was not in the house and yet he was under house arrest. So, a siren was switched on to signal his escape. Policemen were deployed to arrest him and they found him standing while facing Mount Kenya. This is a great man and we need our children and 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."
}