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{
    "id": 1153042,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1153042/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 92,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 366,
        "legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
        "slug": "amos-wako"
    },
    "content": "settled out of court and that means a bit of payment out of court. I was a bit stubborn there, but somehow they managed to get their way to the President. One day I was summoned to go to the State House. The President called me and said please come to the State House immediately if you can. There I met all these people with senior people in Government who said that claim must be settled. Therefore, I told the President that it should be settled, but I would like Kenya to be given an opportunity to argue before an International Tribunal that a case which was tainted with corruption and illegality should not be enforced by an International Tribunal. That was all I wanted. If the Tribunal said it could be enforced, then we could come, sit down and negotiate. Although, the people on the other side were heavy weights and I could see they would have benefited from a settlement out of court, the President agreed with me. He said; “Let the International Tribunal decide on this point of the Attorney-General first. After that, we can decide to go ahead with the rest.” I was very impressed. This showed very clearly that he could not stand corruption in Government. President Mwai Kibaki was a man who was very much in support of regional, economic, social and political integration. He fully supported the East Africa Community. It so happened that President Kibaki who was a Kenyan was educated in Uganda Makerere University. The President of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa was a Tanzanian who was also educated in Makerere University. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is a Ugandan who was educated in Tanzania. Therefore, these Presidents had seen the values of closer economic integration within East Africa. They had enjoyed those benefits and because of their common ideology on that issue, they decided to form a Committee under the East Africa Community to suggest ways in which the road towards the political Federation of East Africa could be expedited. Article 5 of the East Africa Treaty says that the ultimate aim of this treaty is political federation. So, this Committee was supposed to find ways in which this can be fast tracked. As fortune would have it, they appointed me to be the Chairman of that Committee. Therefore, I had to talk to all the three Presidents. When I came in that capacity and had an interview with our President, I was just amazed beyond words. This was because he had written many articles appearing in various journals that went under his name on the advantages and benefits of closer regional economic integration. So, it made my work very easy as far as that was concerned. He was very much committed. In East Africa, Mwai Kibaki’s name was really revered as a person who was not just a Kenyan, but a true East African. When I went to Arusha Golf Club for a dinner, members of the club came and said, “Go and thank your President. Without him, Arusha Golf Club would not have been there.” In fact, during the nationalisation of land in Tanzania, the Arusha Golf Course was going to be nationalized. There would have been no club. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in any case, golf is a game for the bourgeoisie to pass time. However, it took Mwai Kibaki who was at that time the Minister for Finance to talk to President Julius Nyerere. That is how Arusha Golf Club was preserved. That speaks volumes. Whenever you went there, you could find some type of action by our departed President, which fostered unity in East Africa."
}