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{
    "id": 539425,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/539425/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 74,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ababu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "I want to confirm to you and to this House that indeed a letter had been written. That letter was written in good faith and the subsequent withdrawal of that letter was similarly done in good faith; and the withdrawal of that letter was motivated by the realisation that the investigation initiated by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) was not about me. I confirmed that the EACC did not consider me a suspect or a subject of investigation, and that I was merely required to participate in those investigations as a witness to offer information within my knowledge. I considered that, as witness, I did not have any obligation to vacate my responsibilities as a Member of this honourable House. Therefore, that letter was withdrawn in that context. Hon. Deputy Speaker, allow me to now address myself to the matter of the request or the demand for apology. I consider myself a ranking Member of this honourable House. I respect the rules, the practices, the traditions and customs of this House. For the eight years I have served in this House, I have not been found to be dishonourable or disrespectful to this House and its traditions or its practices. Therefore, I would be the last person to violate the Standing Orders and the honour of this House. Having said that, the provisions of Standing Order No. 86 that require Members not to discuss in public, matters under consideration by a Committee, is a rule of this House. In furtherance of that rule, the Speaker made a ruling that required those of us who were party to these proceedings not to discuss these matters in public. This matter was already a matter of public notoriety, as those of us in the legal profession would say. It was already in discussion. Our names were being dragged through the mud. It was necessary for us to make clarifications. I made clarifications in that context; but in respect and honour of Standing Order No. 86 and the Speaker’s ruling and in consonance with my tradition as a respecter of the rules, the customs and the traditions of this House, I tender an unqualified apology for having discussed this matter in public."
}