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{
    "id": 782932,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/782932/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 394,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "It is an important resource that we must harness, accept and use. Without using it, we end up in dilly-dallying on issues that are very parochial and hinder this nation from moving forward. We should desist from issues that divide us and issues that can never build a lasting solution. Our focus should be on how to cement relations between one group of people and another and one ethnic group and another. We should use cultural events to do this. When I was the Minister for Education, one of the events I enjoyed was the Kenya schools music and drama festivals because they were rich in Kenyan repertoire. In other words, Kenyans expressed themselves in their deep cultural way and that brought together many other groups. I was curious to know whether the students who performed cultural events belonged to those ethnic groups but that was not the case. They belonged to other ethnic groups but had mastered cultural songs of other communities that you could not distinguish whether they were from Somali or Kisii communities. It is fulfilling when you get a Kisii singing a Somali song in a cultural way and bringing out the richness of that song during music and drama festivals. You feel that you are one nation, one people, and one country. That is the spirit that we must inculcate in our young people. If we do not do so, we should not blame the digital world because our young people are lost in other games within the digital world. Therefore, they have forgotten the basic foundation of unity and togetherness laid by our forefathers and foremothers. No wonder our National Anthem talks about unity of purpose and unity of being together and being nationals who are proud of being in their own country. This is an important Bill and I urge that we support it because it augurs well for this nation. It could not have come at a better time than now when we are seeing a new spirit and when you have a new spirit, it comes with new thinking, realignment, movement and approach. Kenyans should not feel scared to even fly a flag during a national holiday but they are scared that if they do so, somebody along the road would tell them that they have broken the law. We must demystify that. You are not breaking any law by flying the flag but expressing that you are a Kenyan. That is the spirit we want to plant in our young people. I told you that I was proud when I hosted Kenya Independence Day Celebrations in Dombivli and the Kenya fly was flying high. The Governor of Maharashtra State was in attendance representing the Government of the Republic of India. It gave me a moment of satisfaction that I was a Kenyan. When I came back, I used my energy and effort to ensure that this nation grows in a manner that is acceptable and which is beneficial to the people of Kenya. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I commend The National Flag, Emblems and Names (Amendment) Bill, 2017. I expect my colleagues, including the seniors who are here, to support this Bill because it is good. It engineers the people of Kenya to think in one direction for the common good of this nation. With those few remarks, I support the Bill."
}