How BBI influenced renaming of Boxing Day after team proposed name change

How BBI influenced renaming of Boxing Day

Mumbi Mutuko

December 19, 2019 3:43 PM

BBI's influence in renaming Boxing Day

President Uhuru Kenyatta reading BBI report

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report had proposed to change the Boxing Day to National Culture Day.

This was among other proposals the report gave after collecting views from Kenyans.

Instead of Kenyans celebrating Boxing Day which is viewed as a secular holiday, whose origin is foreign, the BBI team proposed that December 26 or January 1 be set aside as cultural days.

“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),” the report read.

President Uhuru Kenyatta receiving BBI report from Senator Yusuf Haji President Uhuru Kenyatta receiving BBI report from Senator Yusuf Haji Pulse Live Kenya

Positive initiatives

In the recommendations, the BBI team suggested that initiatives that embrace the positive cultures, beliefs and ideals of Kenya’s diverse communities be put in place to achieve this.

"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 noted 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.