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"id": 1564142,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Sen. (Prof.) Kamar?"
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"id": 1564143,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1564143/?format=api",
"text_counter": 263,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
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"id": 33,
"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
"slug": "margaret-kamar"
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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity. I will be brief. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Sen. Eddy Oketch for such a wonderful piece of law. I congratulate him because creative economy is something that has been ignored for many years. The creative industry enables one to use their brains to build ideas into products, to make the intangible tangible but it has not been recognized in most cases. In most cases, you will find that photocopy or copy other people's ideas because you do not know where to go with your own idea. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1564144,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
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"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
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"content": "Recently, I met a young fellow whose idea was to use his mother's telephone for a programme that merges M-Pesa and this would be much better for the banks. This is a Form 4 student. I had to persuade him to go and complete his Form 4 first because he is the boy is brilliant; he gives you ideas. In fact, he was babbling with ideas. I told him that when he completes Form 4, I will give him a mentor. The reason was that I did not want him distracted, but how many parents have stopped their children from being creative because we want to finish the Form 4 first or we want to finish the degree first? There are many. Our children are extremely creative. I still keep asking because we asked this when I was the Minister for Science and Technology but we did not get an answer. Who exactly came up with the idea of M-Pesa? No one wants to talk about that because banks say it is because of their intellectual property but we had heard of young people who were complaining that they were the ones who came up with the idea. Whether it is true or not, it is another story. This is because there was no protection and there was no law to protect anybody's ideas. We are grateful that the law on intellectual property rights had arrived. However, this law on intellectual property rights in this country came very, very late, in the late 90s. I remember I was in the University at that time and when we came up with the intellectual property rights, it was one of its kind because no other university had it. We did it to protect the idea of one Professor whose idea was almost stolen by a Belgian because they had the law and we did not have such a law. I therefore congratulate my colleague because this is going to protect the ideas and it is going to protect the creativity of our people. Creativity, skill and talent development is something that is natural. It is in the heart of the African behaviour. A few hours ago, you talked of the creativity of beads and what the beads mean. You said that no African woman or man wears a bead that has no meaning. Everything has a meaning, yet nobody has accurately documented the meaning of those beads. The African culture is extremely rich. It has creativity inculcated in it but documentation has not been done and it has not been protected. The Bill by Sen. Oketch Gicheru will nurture and protect creativity. I thank him for these many Kenyan things have not been protected. In the North Rift, we use a lot of beadwork from the Maasai Community during weddings, especially the cross-cultural weddings. In cross-race weddings, the beadworks are used to identify our girls. We end up using Maasai beads without telling them that those beads are from the Maasai. We do not even discuss where they have come from, yet we know that they have originated from there. These are things that need to be protected, and they need to be built. When you look at this Bill, you will realize that a lot has not been protected by law. The Maasai beads are not called Maasai beads. We just refer to them as beads. What we do not know is that somebody can discover that loophole. A good example is the"
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"speaker": null,
"content": "kiondo"
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{
"id": 1564146,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1564146/?format=api",
"text_counter": 266,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 33,
"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
"slug": "margaret-kamar"
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"content": "which was a product of Mt. Kenya, but it is now called the Chinese kiondo . Why did that happen? Is it because we did not know it was creative and a product of indigenous group. The Chinese discovered that we were making kiondos and called it Chinese kiondo . We could not change that because they had a law to protect it. So, laws like this will help. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1564147,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1564147/?format=api",
"text_counter": 267,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 33,
"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
"slug": "margaret-kamar"
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"content": "Additionally, I am impressed by the incentives for creativity. The question is: who pays you to think? Who pays you to give an idea? Who pays you to nurture the idea? A young man told me that he was in Form 4 and he has an idea but he does not know how-- - I told him to protect it until he finishes his studies. Who will pay such a child, who has not even finished paying his school fees, to grow their idea to something? This is what this fund is going to do. I am excited that we will have a fund that will help our youth to nurture their talent. This Bill is timely because we are transitioning from the 8-4-4 system to the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) system. The CBC system is full of creativity. In the CBC pathways, we have Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) pathway, social science pathway, and arts pathway. The Bill by Sen. Oketch Gicheru covers the arts pathway. Madam Temporary Speaker, have you ever asked yourself how football became an international game? Football was actually an idea of some community. It was a game in a community and it has become international and people earn money from it. Who has stopped us from creating other games that are ours? In Kenya, we are very good in music. Every community has a unique way of expressing itself through music. It is possible to create an international music festival. The problem we currently face is that our music is sometimes available on YouTube without payment. If someone wants to watch a Pokot dance, they can simply click and enjoy it, while the Pokot community gains nothing. It is important to gather and document our ideas for monetary value. When I read this Bill, I saw that it aims to transform our creativity, skills, and talent into financial and economic gain. I thought this is the time to integrate all our creative efforts into it. In other countries, you may be invited to an opera costing around $500, where people perform music for three hours, and they are paid for it. You might wonder, if we had such an event at the Bomas of Kenya for $500, audiences would experience Luhya, Kamba and Taita dances. That would generate solid revenue due to the creativity involved. What other countries showcase is nothing compared to what we have. However, they have packaged their creativity in a way that holds economic value. This is exactly what this Bill aims to achieve. It will protect our creativity and talents while showcasing them with value. This will add value not only to the country, but also individuals who stand to benefit from it. I am very impressed that we will have incubation programmes. Again, we must remember that our highly creative youth could easily be exploited. We were discussing exploitation, even between us and our sister House. When a Bill crosses over to the other House, it gets delayed, mutilated, altered, and then reintroduced. Creativity can be manipulated in the same way, mutilated and someone comes with other ideas. For this reason, it is excellent that we will have mentorship and protection for our children. Through these incubation programmes, we can safeguard individual creations. Naming a creation is essential, without a name, it does not truly exist. Once named, it becomes recognized as a product that belongs to its creator, allowing them to sell it and enjoy the benefits. Incubation programmes and mentorship are essential. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1564148,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1564148/?format=api",
"text_counter": 268,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 33,
"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
"slug": "margaret-kamar"
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"content": "As I told a young man I met the other day, our children’s ideas are developing rapidly, and they are real and valuable ideas. Before they can be stolen, we need mentors, experienced individuals who can guide them on their journey. Information Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming a major force. For our youth to be champions, they need mentorship. I believe this is precisely what the fund aims to accomplish. It should create an environment where innovators can thrive and ensure the protection of creative individuals. Knowledge can be nurtured, transferred and preserved. This is precisely what we seek to achieve through this Bill. I am deeply grateful to our brother for bringing it forward. Creativity and innovation are the way forward. Integrating them into economic development is the sweetest part of this Bill. This ensures that the creative sector contributes to individual economy while also playing a role in building the national economy."
},
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"id": 1564149,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1564149/?format=api",
"text_counter": 269,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
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"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
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"content": "I am happy about Clause 22 on credit guarantee scheme. It means that any creative person will not be limited. The problem is that the most creative person may not be the most endowed as far as financing is concerned. It is good that a Fund will be established to guarantee credit. Somebody can only have an idea. For you to transform that idea into something tangible or that which can give you economic value, you need somebody to walk the journey with you. That is some financial support to take you through. That is why we need a credit guarantee scheme. According to Clause 22(2), the aim of the credit guarantee scheme is to provide for accessible financial support to the creatives. When this is explained to our youth, you will see how creativity will boom. Madam Temporary Speaker, we used to have science congress. During science congress, our youth were supposed to come up with ideas that were not in the books. Students used to come up with ideas that were amazing. They used to come up with many ideas which were never implemented because there was no funding. After presenting their ideas during science congress, upon finishing Form Four, they went away. It is important to have a credit guarantee scheme to provide accessibility to financial support and a framework for the creatives. That is important because not everybody who has ideas can finance them to maturity. They need somebody else to support them, so that they incubate their ideas and work on them. I also like the proposal that they are going to access research information. That will inform them about what has happened in other corners of the world so that they do not duplicate. However, they can build on that and grow. That requires a lot of research and that must be provided for. I am happy that this Bill has provided for that. Issues of mentors and resource persons have been articulated. Issues of intellectual property rights as part of capacity building have also been outlined and that is good. We also have the issue of projects and existing incubation programmes. They need to have that information, so that they do not redo what is going on. To me, this Bill is extremely good. It will be a game changer to the lives of our youth, especially now that we are transiting to Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). Madam Temporary Speaker, with those remarks, I support. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
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"text_counter": 270,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Next is Sen. Abass."
},
{
"id": 1564151,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1564151/?format=api",
"text_counter": 271,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Abass",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13587,
"legal_name": "Abass Sheikh Mohamed",
"slug": "abass-sheikh"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, first and foremost, I want to applaud Sen. Eddy who is one of the youngest Senators. I am sure he felt the need to support the creative arts. I thank him for bringing this good Bill which everybody should appreciate. Kenya is a diverse country full of contrast. When you attend music and drama festivals where our school children participate, that is the only time you feel that this country is rich in creative arts. When you see the young girls and boys in schools presenting the ideas that they get from their teachers, you will see that there is need to support those ideas and build on them, so that those small minds that have come up with those kinds of creative arts are supported. Today, in the United States of America (USA) and Europe, there are so many Africans who have been given scholarships because of having that kind of creative thinking, and sports. However, in a country like Kenya, with all its beautiful diversity and arts available within our rich society, some of our young, and talented people, sportsmen and women, are going to become citizens in the Arab land and Rwanda, simply because we do not appreciate them. Probably, we have plenty of them, such that, we do not see the necessity of having this. Madam Temporary Speaker, creative arts encompass a lot of things in human activities. It encompasses imaginations, expressions, arts, history, among other things. If this is actually conserved and preserved, that is going to be an intellectual issue that can be referred for any purpose. If you go Maasai Mara, for instance, you see white men and foreigners coming and they appreciate the attires that our Maasai sisters and men wear. In Europe, or the big hotels, for instance, you will see people wearing the Masa i Shuka, and it is actually even sold at expensive prices. However, in Kenya, we do not even appreciate that. Instead, we say it is backwardness and barbaric to have these kinds of cultures. It is not so. So, it is high time that we support the creative economy. Madam Temporary Speaker, in the past, we used to have a Department of Culture and Social Services. That was a very strong institution. They used to support the creative arts. There used to be competitions in schools and in traditional dances, celebrating every public holidays. They used to come from every corner of Kenya. However, these days, people are called from the slums, and given one minute to dance, and thereafter you talk about speech and political issues. It is high that time need to move forward and at least be able to appreciate it. Madam Temporary Speaker, most of our cultural ambassadors and creatives are wallowing in poverty. The likes of Mama Kayai and her team of Vioja Mahakani are wallowing in poverty. They have nowhere to run to. They have nobody to support them. If this kind of economic support for the creative arts group can be done, this country will move forward, and we will appreciate those people who teach our young ones. In the era of TikTok, instead of our children thinking about creatives and our cultures, they are just seeing dirty things and spending most of their time looking at TikTok’s, naked women, and obscene things. However, if our traditions are aired on television, and the media in general... The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}
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