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{
    "id": 837733,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/837733/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 364,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bondo, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Gideon Ochanda",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1264,
        "legal_name": "Gideon Ochanda Ogolla",
        "slug": "gideon-ochanda-ogolla"
    },
    "content": " Thank you a lot, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. You know in this delegation where my good friend, the leader of delegation, was leading from the front, some of us were whipping from behind. As you are guiding, it is true that Nyoro is more nationalist than regionalist in the Committee on Regional Integration. I want to second this by bringing in a few facts that, in my view, are clear. It has been mentioned in terms of sensitisation about the regional integration. I think we are very slow on this as a region and not necessarily as a country. While this was happening, as we were visiting and going round in the EALA meetings, I want to state that in the last two or so weeks ago, I happened to share a platform with the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda and one or two of the other Members of that Parliament together with my neighbour, Hon. Raphael Wanjala, in a remote island in Lake Victoria called Sigulu. One thing impressed me. In as much as we had all many other issues that we were addressing, one thing that impressed me is the way the Ugandans handle the issue of the regional anthem, which apparently we do not do here. In Uganda, in terms of that kind of a function, what they played first is the national anthem and proceeded to do the regional anthem immediately after as a procedure. That is one thing that I do not see us do. I believe that if all countries were doing this, the whole element of sensitisation about the regional integration might move a little bit faster. We are talking about business and these are the main drivers when it comes to issues of integration. So, the more we have our people particularly along the borders or the communities we are bordering, understanding and agreeing that we are a region, I think it is going to be much more useful. It is one thing that will help us move forward in as much as the sensitisation exercises are a little bit low, particularly in this country. The other thing that I wanted to mention is the whole issue of commitment. There are all manner of scenarios in terms of suspicion across members. There are certain deep-seated institutionalised kinds of attitudes that we have across different communities in the region. There are thoughts that Tanzanians just have hatred against others. There are attitudes of other communities against others. I think these are some of the things that are slowing us down. If we The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}