BBI: Boxing Day knocked out in favour of culture fete

Boxing Day, celebrated a day after Christmas, will be known as the National Culture Day if proposals by the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) are passed.

A similar change will be effected on the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) which will be known as the Ethics Commission.

The above change will also see the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) have its tasks reduced as it will no longer handle ethics issues, but purely corruption matters.

Ethics matters will be transferred to the Ethics Commission that will be under the Office of the President.

These are some of the changes proposed by the BBI task force which are aimed at ensuring Kenya and Kenyans have the highest standards of ethos.

Instead of Kenyans joining the rest of the world to celebrate a secular holiday, whose origin is foreign, the BBI team proposes that December 26 and January 1 be set aside as cultural days.

This is to enable Kenyans celebrate each other’s cultures.

“Replace Boxing Day on December 26 with National Culture Day for celebrating culture and learning about other Kenyan cultures (this can also be done on January 1),” reads the report.

Boxing Day, as a secular holiday originated from the United Kingdom and is usually a day of opening presents given during Christmas.

In the BBI report, the team notes that as a country, we lack shared beliefs, ideals and aspirations about what Kenya can become if all people subscribed to a national ethos that builds unity.

The team suggests that for this to happen, these changes should start from the family unit, supported by initiatives that embrace the positive cultures, beliefs and ideals of Kenya’s diverse communities.

This will be facilitated by the civil society, private sector and State institutions.

"It will become embedded in the education system, starting from the earliest age and lasting for a lifetime, religious and cultural institutions, the media and our arts sector," reads the report.

The team wants ethics to be taught from nursery to university as a compulsory subject.

The team also wants the president to commission an Official History of Kenya.