{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=160549","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=160547","results":[{"id":1623672,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623672/?format=json","text_counter":166,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"[The Deputy Speaker (Sen. Kathuri) left the Chair]"},{"id":1623673,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623673/?format=json","text_counter":167,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"[The Temporary Speaker (Sen. Abdul Haji) in the Chair]"},{"id":1623674,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623674/?format=json","text_counter":168,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wambua","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"To the literary world, we pass our condolences to them on the passing on of their colleague. I am encouraged to know that all the four children of Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o; Tee Ngũgĩ, Mukoma Ngũgĩ, Nduchu Ngũgĩ and Wanjiku Ngũgĩ, without exception, are actually published authors. They are in the literature world. They are writing and they are being published, so it is a good thing that he has passed on to his children. To our students in schools, those who have had the opportunity to study works of art by Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, we all agree that they have been very thought- provoking and that his works are the embodiment of the literary saying that literature is not based in a vacuum; that literature draws from society. Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o used the platform of literature to communicate the social messages that touched on politics, economics and development of the country and the region. May the soul of Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, the father of African modern literature, rest in God's eternal peace. I thank you."},{"id":1623675,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623675/?format=json","text_counter":169,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Abdul Haji","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Sen. (Dr.) Oburu, please proceed."},{"id":1623676,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623676/?format=json","text_counter":170,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Oburu","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity. I stand here to mourn a friend and a brother. Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o was one of the true nationalists we had in this country during the struggle for our Independence against the colonizers of this country. Colonization came in several ways. There was colonization of the mind, which was cultural colonization. There was political colonization and there was economic colonization. He fought against all these. He is more known for fighting against mental colonization and cultural colonization. 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":1623677,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623677/?format=json","text_counter":171,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Oburu","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"When the colonialists came to our country, they first of all despised the African religion. They called us primitive and, therefore, they called this country a colony. A colony is a place where you have people who are not civilized, who have no form of leadership and religion. They have nothing; they are just living next to the animal kingdom. This country has very rich cultures of languages and when somebody wants to colonize you mentally, they first start demonizing your language because cultures are expressed in our mother tongues. There are some expressions in Kikuyu, which Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o used when he was starting to write, which you cannot express in English. Even if you try to translate them in English, they will not have the same meaning. They will never have the same meaning. I know sentences in my Luo language which are so deep that someone cannot try to translate. I also cannot translate them into English. That means that someone makes you believe that their language is superior to yours; they are, first of all, colonizing you mentally already. They want you to believe that their culture is superior. Then they introduce religion and tell you that their religion is superior. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, they also want you to use their names. When you go to church, you are baptized Charles. You call yourself Charles. Charles is just an English name; it is not even anywhere in the Bible. Donald is just another English name and it is nowhere in the Bible. However, you feel that because it is a European name, it is most superior to your own name of Uhuru, Otieno or Ng’ong’a. There is me and Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. His name was Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Where is that Charles or William? It is not there. Even for me, I am Oburu Ng’ong’a Amolo Oburu Oginga. Those are my baptismal names because my father refused to be culturally colonized. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o said, “no, I am not going to use the names of the"},{"id":1623678,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623678/?format=json","text_counter":172,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"mzungu.”"},{"id":1623679,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623679/?format=json","text_counter":173,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Oburu","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"He encouraged that. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am surprised that during our days when we were being taught from Standard 1 to 4, we used to be taught in vernacular, our own language. I learned to read and write in Luo. All the subjects were taught in Luo up to Standard 3 when they introduced English. We started speaking English and doing exams in English in Standard 4. From Standard 5, you had to do English, whether you liked it or not. If you did not speak English, they gave you a disc in school. This great man wrote more than 200 books and they were literatures in schools. They were not only in Kenya, but in the whole of Africa and in the world as well because he went to teach in America. He was teaching Americans. He was not teaching Kenyans there in America. This was a great Professor of the world. He had a great passion for our country because he believed that even after Independence and when the colonial flag was brought down, our people were still culturally colonized, mkosa mila ni mtumwa . When you lose your culture, you are like a slave. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, he believed that even though we got our Independence, that independence did not give us the freedom of being colonized culturally. It did not give us the freedom of being colonized economically because our economy was still tied to the Metropolis. We were like an appendage of the colonial regimes. We have been unable since then to shed ourselves of colonial dependence and 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":1623680,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623680/?format=json","text_counter":174,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. (Dr.) Oburu","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"become truly independent in order to develop our own economies, trade and not beg. We can trade with the world because the world has become a world village, but we do not have to be beggars going to seek money from the Metropolis carrying hats there. Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o believed in this very dearly and he disagreed sharply with a lot of people in leadership in this country. That is why he died somewhere out of our country, still believing that our country was the best. When he came back to Kenya, when he landed at the airport, he kissed the soil of Kenya because he believed that Kenya is the best as far as he was concerned. He loved this country so deeply and he died fighting disease like everybody else will go. There is no one who will leave on this earth for good. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we are celebrating Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. We are not mourning, but celebrating his life. His life was great and he has left legacy that will live forever. I wish that the legacy of Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o will live and that our children will study deeply what he was teaching because our society has become bad. We have children who do not know their mother tongue. As long as they speak English, they think that they are superior than the others who do not speak English. English is just a language of one country though it can help you to do many other things. However, your own language will teach you, your culture, which teaches you the discipline of your people. Our society was a very disciplined and an organized society. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is becoming more or less like the European society, which is promiscuous. There are things which are unnatural; like a man and a man and a woman and a woman marrying. I mean, what is this? That is completely un- African and Africans have their own culture. This was not a session for me to give a lecture on that, but I wish that the legacy of my friend, Professor Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o will stay to educate and change our society positively. This is so that our people can continue to fight for justice and for positive change in order for our country to be liberated both culturally and economically. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, let his soul rest in eternal peace. I thank you."},{"id":1623681,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623681/?format=json","text_counter":175,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Abdul Haji","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Senator. Sen. Beatrice Ogola."}]}