Ndugai apology to President Samia draws mixed reaction

The apology by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Job Ndugai, has been received with mixed feelings and different reactions in a development seen as closing the debate on government borrowing and the national debt.

Mr Ndugai sought to clear the air after apologising for his comments that stirred debate and polarized opinion among Tanzanians.

Mr Ndugai’s measured apology was described differently among a cross-section of analysts who followed the debate.

The executive director of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Ms Anna Henga, said Mr Ndugai’s apology was an attempt to close the debate... “But, “I think it’s a cover-up because he knew exactly what he was talking about and not that he was unconscious,” she said.

The chairman of the National Inter-faith Committee for Ethics, Peace and Human Rights formed by religious leaders, Bishop Wiliam Mwamalanga, said Speaker Ndugai apologizing was a good thing; but that alone was not enough.

He said the Parliamentary Powers, Immunity and Ethics Committee which Speaker Ndugai has been using to interrogate MPs on what they say outside the House, should grill him on his statement as well.

“His apology is perfectly correct but he should also be questioned by the Parliamentary Committee that he has been using to grill MPs who speak outside the Parliament like him,” he said.

“These politicians have a habit of playing with the minds Tanzanians - and then later covering-up. We should not accept that,” said Bishop Mwamalanga who is also the leader of the Pentecostal Church in Tanzania.

For his part, Khalid Mustapha - a lecturer at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) - said it was a good thing for the Speaker to acknowledge his mistakes and apologise. But he warned that this should be done seriously.

“We are always told that if a civilised person makes a mistake, he/she apologizes so that life goes on. Speaker Ndugai’s scenario is also the same, and I think after apologising the debate about foreign borrowing and the subsequent attacks against him have now been closed,” he said.

He added that, despite Speaker Ndugai’s apology, he had left a positive and thoughtful debate on loans and that development partners and the government needed to think critically on this - and take appropriate action.