Let’s celebrate heroes during public holidays

The abrupt announcement of Moi Day as a public holiday this year left the nation deeply conflicted. The former President’s followers celebrated, constitutionalists groaned and the majority simply enjoyed the day off work and school. Wednesday was frankly, awkward. Coming barely ten days before Mashujaa, perhaps we could spend a moment reflecting on the purpose of our national days.

Justice George Odunga caught the Executive napping a year ago. Seven years after we had voted for which national holidays we wanted to celebrate, two successive administrations had failed to update our Public Holidays Act. One year on, the Act still hadn’t been amended. However, Odunga’s reasoning is not beyond fault either. A more judicious position would have been to have rendered any Act of Parliament that was not in harmony with the Constitution invalid and void. Both actions and inactions have confused the country and cost our economy millions.