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{
    "id": 782939,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/782939/?format=api",
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    "content": "specifications of the national flag. The National Flag, Emblems and Names Act provides the specifications for the national flag; the dimensions, the colours of black, red and white; how wide it should be; the depth and pantone of the colours. However, that is now in the Constitution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in the schedule of the Constitution, you will get the specifications of the flag, the words of the national anthem, a description of the Coat of Arms and the national seal. The only thing that you will not get in the Constitution is something that is in the Act that is called the Armorial Ensign . I am not sure what that is. If you look at the English that describes the Armorial Ensign in the Mother Act, I am not sure whether that is English. I will not try to read to it. Look at the mother Act and see how Armorial Ensign is defined. I urge the Senator for Makueni County who sought to amend this Act, that he should also move an amendment to that description of Armorial Ensign because I do not understand it. It is written in a language that must be very archaic English. Mr. Temporary Speaker, we must make up our minds whether we want to keep that Act or whether the Constitution of Kenya 2010 takes care of some of the things that that Act was meant to take care of. The other thing that is not in the Constitution is the score of the national anthem; the musical score which is a self-annotation theme on how the national anthem should be played. We have a beautiful national anthem. It is also limited by this Act. I hope that when looking at these amendments, we will also make it possible for Kenyans to use the national anthem anytime and everywhere without limitations. We need to ask ourselves whether the parent Act limits the use of the national anthem because that is an expression of patriotism. Sen. (Prof.) Ongeri talked about his adventures in athletics. Every time the Kenya National Anthem is played in international fora, we get feedback and we are told we have got a wonderful national anthem; the tune, the tone and the way it flows. It is beautiful. There should not be an Act of Parliament whose job is to stop us, prevent or prohibits us from taking pride in our national anthem, taking pride in our flag and emblems. Certainly, the use of those national assets for commercial purposes must be outlawed. However, in pursuit of patriotism or genuine love for the love of the nation, we do not need an Act of Parliament that prohibits that. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as you look at this Act, I also want to challenge the Mover, the Senator for Makueni County, who is a very good lawyer, that there is a provision in the mother Act that gives the Attorney General the power to authorize prosecution for violations of this Act. I thought that that power went away. The power of the Attorney General to decide who should be prosecuted went away when the Attorney General Emeritus, Sen. Wako, gladly handed to the nation the Constitution of Kenya 2010. That is something that we need to deal with. If you are keeping the mother Act, then that provision should also be done away with because the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is not under the control of the Attorney General anymore as was the case in the past. I wish to propose that as this Bill moves in subsequent stages, we will get the opportunity to put into place some of these amendments. However, the proposals by Sen. 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."
}