Mwakyembe, the revelations of whose committee last year precipitated
the resignation of former prime minister Edward Lowassa and two cabinet
ministers, was adding his voice to similar ones by people believing
that Tanzania will sustain the anti-corruption struggle.
He made the remarks at Saturday`s launch of a Kahama village community
bank in Shinyanga Region dubbed Vicoba-Kahama. The ceremony was
attended by seven other MPs from Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar
constituencies.
The Kyela (CCM) lawmaker said he saw clear signs that Tanzanians were
winning the war against corruption “because President Jakaya Kikwete
has shown keen interest in fiercely fighting the vice“.
“It is a big shame for people involved in corruption scandals to
register newspapers using taxpayers` money simply to malign honest
citizens,“ noted the MP, a journalist-cum-lawyer-turned politician.
“Yes, they have registered newspapers. My humble request to you is
that you should not bother about whatever they write because our goal
is to fight to the end and eliminate grinding poverty among
Tanzanians,“ he added.
Meanwhile, Vunjo (CCM) legislator Aloyce Kimaro said most wealthy
people in Tanzania are corrupt and earn income illegally “and that`s
why they don`t have the courage to openly volunteer and help their less
privileged compatriots“.
Kimaro cited IPP Executive Chairman Reginald Mengi as one of the
exemplary clean and honest businessmen whose money is earned legally,
adding: “It is because of this fact that Mengi always has courage to
volunteer and help the poor“.
The MP said that corrupt people have no chance in Tanzania because
President Kikwete abhors corruption, humiliation and dishonesty “and
the Tanzanian masses must rally behind him“.
“These people have killed our cooperative unions and parastatals and now they have dug deep into the government.
The unlimited poverty among Tanzanians is due to their greed, so they must be chased from our government,“ declared Kimaro.
Nzega (CCM) legislator Lucas Selelii, who was a member of the Mwakyembe
committee, repeated his oft-made remarks that the team did an honest
job that did Tanzanians proud.
He said if it is ever proved that they wrongly implicated any person in
the scandal, they were prepared to bear the consequences- including
resigning as MPs.
Selelii said they were threatened by corrupt people numerous times
“but the IPP Chairman was in the frontline, consoling and supporting
us throughout“.
He said the members of the committee had nothing to fear and would
fight to the end, “that is until we have kicked out corruption from
Tanzania“.
All the MPs' commented on the war on high-profile corruption scandals, which have seen some prime suspects taken to court.
Related cases going on in various courts include that of theft of
billions of shillings from the Bank of Tanzania`s (BoT) External
Payments arrears (EPA) account in 2005/06 and the 2006 Richmond
Development Company power generation scam.
Three major cases are also going on all involving prominent figures.
They are that of abuse of office and occasioning loss facing former
cabinet ministers Basil Mramba and Daniel Yona and former Treasury
permanent secretary Gray Mgonja and a similar one facing BoT personnel
and administrative director Amatus Liyumba over discrepancies in the
execution of the central bank`s Twin-Towers project between 2001 and
2006.
The Guardian
Post published in: Uncategorized