CONSTITUTION OF KENYA REVIEW COMMISSION (CKRC) NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CONFERENCE (NCC) Verbatim Report of PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON AD HOC COMMITTEE ON CULTURE HELD AT THE BOMAS OF KENYA ONONON 202020 THTHTH AUGUST, 2003 Page 1 of 93 Last printed 1/26/2006 11:54:00 PM CONSTITUTION OF KENYA REVIEW COMMISSION NCC - PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON AD HOC COMMITEEE ON CULTURE HELD AT BOMAS OF KENYA ON 20.08.2003 Meeting was called to order at 9.30 a.m. PLO Lumumba: I request Lorna Laboso, Asenath Nyamu and Were Domtila to kindly come forward to take the oath in a few minutes. Lorna Laboso, Asenath Nyamu and Were Domtila, kindly come forward. Prof. Yash Pal Ghai: Please take your seats. We shall start with prayers in one minute please. Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. Baldip Singh Rihal, Ms. Beatrice Mwaringa and Sheikh Ali Shee will say the prayers this morning. So I will first call upon Mr. Rihal, then Mwaringa and then Sheikh Ali Shee. Please stand up for prayers. Hon. Delegate Baldip Singh Rihal: Let us pray. Oh Supreme God, Absolute All-pervading, the Eternal, the Creator of the universe, the Cause of causes without enemity, without hate, both eminent in your creation and beyond it. You are not the God of one nation but the God of grace. Oh God, Delegates to the National Constitutional Conference have gathered for the second and most critical stage of the Constitution writing for Kenya. We pray that you give the Delegates the wisdom and selfless sense of service to write a new Constitution for Kenya. Oh Supreme God, we pray for your mercy and blessings on all people of this nation. Hon. Delegate Sheikh Ali Shee: Bismilahi Rahman Rahim. Kwa jina la Mwenyezi Mungu, mwingi wa rehema na subira na hekima, tunakushukuru kwa kuungwa mkono na wewe katika kazi ngumu ambayo tumekuwa tukiifanya. Utupe nguvu zako, utupe busara, utupe uwezo wa kuvumilia na kusubiri katika shida zote ambazo tutazipata. Utulinde katika hali iliyo bora, ulinde taifa letu lote. Uwape wananchi wetu nguvu za kusubiri na kuvumilia. Ewe Mola, tunakuomba wewe, hatuna mola mwingine. Wewe ndiwe mwenye miliki ya ardhi na mbingu. Tupe uwezo wa kuweza kufanya kazi hii ya Katiba, tuweze kutoa Katiba iliyo nzuri ya kunufaisha vyumbe vyako vilioko katika nchi hii. Utupe uhusiano mwema, utupe kila la kheri Page 2 of 93 Last printed 1/26/2006 11:54:00 PM na baraka, utuondolee fitina, utondolee wasiwasi, tunakuomba hatuna mwingine wa kumuomba ila ni wewe, utubariki. Amen. Hon. Delegate Beatrice Mwaringa: Baba Mwenyezi Mungu, tunakuhimidi asubuhi hii ya leo kwa sababu ya uzima ambao umetupa. Mungu tunajua kwamba ni wengi waliotamani kuiona siku hii ya leo, lakini Bwana hawakuweza. Sio kwamba wao ni wenye dhambi kushinda sisi, lakini Bwana tunajua una lengo nasi katika asubuhi hii ya leo na mchana huu wote. Tunaweka kila jambo katika mikono yako ili Bwana wewe utuongoze. Sisi wenyewe hatuwezi na tunajua ya kwamba umetupa jukumu kubwa la kufanya katika nchi yetu hii. Ni wewe tu ndiwe ambaye ulituchagua kwa sababu sisi wenyewe hatungeweza kufanya hivyo, lakini ulituona. Basi Bwana tunaomba uwezo wako uingie katika kila mmoja wetu, ili Bwana lile lengo ambalo ulituitia hapa litimie. Tunajua ya kwamba Wakenya wote wametia tumaini lao kati ya Wajumbe hawa. Basi Bwana waongoze, wao wenyewe hawawezi kufanya, lakini wewe ukiwa katikati yetu tunajua yote yatatendeka. Nasi tuna imani kubwa ya kwamba ingawaje tuko kabila mbali mbali hapa, tuko na dini mbali mbali, lakini Bwana umetupa uwezo wa kuja pamoja, ili sote tufikirie Kenya yetu kama kitu kimoja. Bwana tupe uwezo huo, tupe amani katika jengo hili, hasa kwa siku hii ya leo. Ondoa michafuko yote ambayo shetani yuko tayari kuiweka. Tunajua ya kwamba wewe ukiwapo hakuna yeyote ambaye anaweza kufanya lolote. Bwana tunatumaini kwa sababu wewe ni Mungu wa uwezo, ni Mungu wa mapenzi na unatupenda ndiposa ukatuweka pamoja ili tujifikirie maisha yetu ya baadaye. Basi Bwana utende hayo kwa mchana huu wa leo, nasi tunaamini ya kwamba yatatendeka maana uwezo wako ni mkuu, hakuna ambaye anaweza. Na tumeuliza hivi, sio kwamba sisi ni wenye haki, bali tumeuliza ni katika jina kuu la Mwanao Yesu Kristo ambaye ni Bwana na Mwokozi wetu tumeomba na kuamini. Prof. Yash Pal Ghai: Thank you very much. There are a number of Delegates who need to be sworn in today. I will ask them to please come to the podium in front of me, then I will administer the Oath. Now, can I ask you if you are all going to take the oath as opposed to affirmation? Page 3 of 93 Last printed 1/26/2006 11:54:00 PM Hon. Delegates: Oath. Prof. Yash Pal Ghai: Oath, okay. I am going to read the oath and you will repeat after me. When I say “I” you say “I” and then you mention your name and then you will repeat after me. So please raise your hand. Could I ask for silence please so that we have the swearing in? (Oath administered as follows to Hon. Delegates Llorna Labos, Asenath Nyamu and Were Domtila) “I being appointed a Delegate to the National Constitutional Conference under the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission Act, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and fully, impartially and to the best of my ability discharge the trust and perform the functions and exercise the powers devolving upon me by virtue of this appointment without fear, favour, bias, affection, ill-will or prejudice and to the end that in the exercise of the functions and powers as such Delegate, I shall at all times be guided by the national interest. So help me God”. Well, I welcome you to the Conference and look forward to your contribution. Please sign the Oath and I will come to sign it later on. Thank you. Communication from the Chair: Prof. Yash Pal Ghai: I would like to make a few announcements before we proceed to the business of the day. I have been asked by the Chair of the Welfare Committee to announce that the meeting of that Committee will be held at 1.00pm, in one of the tents where we normally adjourn for coffee. There will also be a lunch time meeting of the Convenors and Rapporteurs of the Technical Committees in the youth tent, which I believe is somewhere in that direction (pointing). I also have to state that we have received proposal for Motion from Hon. Karua to set aside some time for the Plenary discussion on Affirmative Action and we are now considering Page 4 of 93 Last printed 1/26/2006 11:54:00 PM when to bring that forward but we will do that in a day or two and I need to discuss with her the precise formulation of the Motion. So if Hon. Karua is here, could she please see me later today so that we can arrange the time for this presentation. The main programme today will be the presentation of two reports, the first one is the Task Force on Culture and the other one is the report of the Task Force on Devolution. As Prof. Okoth Ogendo explained yesterday, the Commission set up two Task Forces to explore topics that had received inadequate attention, at least on the case of Culture and the case of Devolution perhaps the recommendations in the Draft are subject to detailed discussion, that it was felt that some re- thinking was necessary and that report that I mentioned does that task. So I will begin with the Task Force on Culture. Three Commissioners who are sitting with me will be presenting that report; each will take a section and each Commissioner will take about half an hour to present that section. So I am not sure what the order is. Commissioner Adagala will start the presentation and I invite her now to begin. REPORT ON TASK FORCE ON CULTURE Session Chair - Wilfred Koitamet Ole Kina Presenters - Com. Kavetsa Adagala Com. Salome Wairimu Muigai Com. Abubakar Zein Abubakar Com. Kavetsa Adagala : Thank you very much, fellow Delegate. Today we are pleased to be here and to present to you and we want probably before we do anything else to thank this Conference for the affirmative approach they had towards culture so that we have been able to bring our culture into our Constitution and perhaps this will be the most distinctive part of our Constitution. It is a good thing because we are preaching to people who are already converted so we do not have to justify much but definitely we owe our gratitude to you. We are here, three Commissioners; on my left is Salome Muigai and on my right is Zein. We shall present in three parts, it does not mean that we are the only ones who were on this, I shall read to you the people Page 5 of 93 Last printed 1/26/2006 11:54:00 PM who were with us in the committee and we were, myself - Co-convenor, Commissioners Salome Muigai - Co-convenor, Bishop Bernard Njoroge - member, Abubakar Zein, Pastor Zablon Ayonga, Domiziano Ratanya, Nancy Baraza, Dr. Phoebe Asiyo, Prof. Wanjiku Kabira, who is a cultural worker who is in Devolution making sure that we have our cultural component there. I would like to say that we had a very able Secretariat led by Mr. Charles Oyaya who worked day and night and during weekends to make sure that this report came out, Peter Kanyi who was the Data Analyst and Joash Aminga, who is a librarian and was on the internet trying to get us a lot of materials, Ms.