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{
    "id": 646394,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/646394/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 275,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ababu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 108,
        "legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
        "slug": "ababu-namwamba"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I want to join His Excellency the President in applauding our soldiers who continue to put their lives on the line to secure the territorial integrity of our nation and to ensure the safety of all of us. As leaders, we ought to show great appreciation to these gallant sons and daughters of our land. Having said that, I listened to the President and he asked us as the Opposition to critique his performance in a manner that is objective, sensible and that is absolutely acceptable. If we were to criticise in a manner that pleases him so that wherever he sits he is happy with our criticisms, then there would be something fundamentally wrong with us as the Opposition because we cannot be in the business of pleasing the President. We are in the business of making sure that the manner in which the President governs this country is ultimately and absolutely in the best interest of the people. In doing so, we will definitely raise certain issues that will make the President uncomfortable. I would like to urge His Excellency the President to learn to live with his criticisms. When he was the Leader of the Opposition, he stood in this Chamber and described the former President, Mwai Kibaki in the following words “hear nothing, see nothing and feel nothing\". I do not believe that President Uhuru meant then as the Leader of the Opposition that Kibaki had no ears, eyes or sense of feeling. It was a manner of expression to send a clear message that the Government of President Kibaki then was unresponsive to the needs of the people. That is what we want to tell the President today. One, the President must be held accountable for his choice of words because he talked about a covenant, national spirit and action but he proceeded immediately to violate each of those tenets. He forgot that he was addressing this House in terms of Articles 132 and 10 of the Constitution that set the parameters within which he must address this House. The proper interpretation of those provisions of the Constitution mean that this Address is not supposed to be about the Jubilee scorecard but one that should tell us the state of our nation, not only informing us of the areas we are doing well but also reminding us the monumental challenge that we face so that we can rally together to confront these challenges. On that score, the President 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."
}