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{
    "id": 532174,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/532174/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 230,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2712,
        "legal_name": "Tom Joseph Kajwang'",
        "slug": "kajwang-tom-joseph-francis"
    },
    "content": "I thank you, hon. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me an opportunity to put my voice into this. Unfortunately, I have to register my displeasure on the Presidential speech that has been billed as one of the most important speeches that any President has given in the recent years for two reasons. Five minutes is so short a time that I am unable to talk so much about these things. One, on this thing called “public apology”, everybody has talked about it. People are excited that for the first time now, the President is coming to apologize to the nation. Apology can be good. But if an apology is stated without a context or in a vacuum, it can also be an insult. Apology must, first of all, be predicated upon an admission. Two, then it is predicated upon being able to tell the person who has been offended what it is that you are apologizing for. Three, is restitution. I listened to the President and I was wondering which of those families he was speaking to, if he was talking about the people who have lost their lives in the recent regimes. Was he talking about the family of the late Tom Mboya? Was he talking to the family of the late Pio Gama Pinto? Was he talking about the family of the late Dr. Robert Ouko? If he was, is it an admission that Tom Mboya lost his life because of the Government of Jomo Kenyatta? Did he make an admission that Dr. Ouko was killed by the Moi’s regime? Was it an admission or was it an expression that there has been past historical injustices? Hon. Deputy Speaker, if you have not been there, you do not know how it feels for somebody to come and say: “I apologize”, but knowing very well he has not stated what it is he has done. Some of those people are not looking for the restitution money. All the Tom Mboya family is looking for is somebody to look at them face to face, and say: “I did this thing wrong. My father did this to you and we apologize for it”. That is the kind of apology we are looking for. The Ouko family is not looking for money. They are looking for somebody to say: “Ouko lost his life during the Moi regime and I apologize”. That is the kind of genuine apology we are looking at. Listening to the type of apologies presented here, some of them are ICC witnesses. They are widely known to be ICC witnesses, people who have died out of extra-judicial killing. When the President is saying he is sorry, whom is he talking to and how is he talking? I found that to be displeasure rather than thanks. Number two, is corruption. Whereas, it is laudable that people have been told to carry their crosses but, hon. Deputy Speaker, picture this. The Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission is an Independent Commission who has the wherewithal to deal with corruption. Then they write a Report and take it to the President. What are they saying? They are saying that they are unable to do what the law expects them to do and they are pointing accusing fingers to the President; that he is the problem and he should go and deal with those people. After that, the President does the most unprecedented thing and brings that Report to us. Now, hon. Members, what are we going to do with this Report? We are not investigators. We are not judicial staff and we cannot prosecute anybody. Yet, a Report The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}