MP wants Kamukunji grounds declared a national monument
An MP has proposed that the Kamukunji Grounds in Nairobi be declared a protected national monument.
Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan said the historical grounds was one of the most important public spaces in Kenya’s political history, but was neglected and in a derelict state.
“The Kamukunji Grounds hosted the Saba Saba rally that brought an end to the one party rule ushering in new ear of multiparty democracy,” he said in a notice of motion tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday.
The issue will be discussed by the Departmental committee on Labour and Social Welfare, which will give its recommendation to the House for debate.
Mr Hassan said the grounds had been “forgotten and neglected” and yet several of the country’s liberators patronised it and suffered in the process, in the fight for freedom and second liberation or multi-party democracy from years of single-party, Kanu rule.
He said national leaders held groundbreaking political rallies that mobilised the masses in the struggle for freedom and independence from colonial rule.
The MP said for the last 40 years, the Kamukunji Grounds have played a significant role in the Kenyan struggle for human rights and democracy, hence the need for the government to give it special status and to rehabilitate it.