The NGO council of Kenya has joined the rest of the country in remembering the special day set aside by the late president Daniel Moi in the 1990's to extend a helping hand to needy families and charity causes.
In a press statement, council chairman Stephen Kipchumba Cheboi urged President William Ruto to build on the gains of this day formerly Moi day now renamed Utamaduni Day observed on October 10th each year. He said challenges being posed by thousands of homeless families living in the streets of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Eldoret require a marshal plan to restore sanity in urban centres. This day has since been set aside to celebrate the country's rich cultural diversity.
Cheboi said the day comes at a time the country is grappling with the worst famine situation in 40 years which is threatening lives across 23 counties about 4 million people now in urgent need of food and water.
He said even as the country celebrates Kenya’s rich cultural diversity, the current hardships facing millions of women and children need not be overlooked as it was initially the essence of marking the Utamaduni Day.
Cheboi urged the young generation to uphold African values and traditional customs to remain a distinct entity that will carry on generational dispensation. He said Africans as a custom always encouraged communal support during hunger crisis. "They would not seat to enjoy a meal when the neighbour had nothing to eat owing to failed crops" and urged more blessed Kenyans to remember the less fortunate.
Cheboi said as the first Utamaduni day under President Ruto, there was every reason for the new regime to tailor the day to current economic hardships by subsidizing the price of maize meal (unga).
Cheboi welcomed remarks by President Ruto Kampala calling for a border-less East African region through the African Continent Free Trade Area (AFTA) so as to fast track regional trade.
President Ruto was speaking during the 60th independence anniversary of Uganda at Kololo airstrip grounds where he called for free movement of people and goods.
Cheboi said it was critical for Kenyans to recognise and celebrate this rich cultural diversity in a manner that promotes unity, national cohesion and economic progress.
He said the NGO Council of Kenya and all its affiliate members will continue to promote the cultural diversity that unifies all Kenyans towards greater heights of economic prosperity and social cohesion as originally intended by the country's second president Daniel Moi.
