UK envoy accused of ill will, opposition MPs march out

Opposition MPs walk out of Parliament in Dodoma yesterday. They protested against the ministry of Energy and Minerals’ budget proposals

The government has  accused the UK High Commissioner to Tanzania, Ms Dianna Melrose, of influencing other development partners to cut aid and support to Tanzania. The deputy minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr Steven Maselle, told Parliament yesterday that the envoy was violating  diplomatic principles.

He said the envoy was coordinating meetings in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma against proper and accepted procedures to convince other development partners to stop supporting Tanzania.

The deputy minister added that  she was pushing  the government to take  a loan from Standard Chartered Bank to pay private companies.

 “Tanzania is a sovereign state;  we have our way of doing things and no-one should intervene our programmes,”  he said.

Earlier this month Ms Melrose told The Citizen that the UK and other development partners are concerned about the controversy surrounding the acquisition of Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL).

She said the IPTL issue was of “great concern” to the British government, adding that the High Commission had already communicated with the relevant ministers in addition to writing to the BoT Governor.

Earlier, opposition MPs yesterday walked out of  the debating chamber, protesting  the manner in which  the debate on the 2014/2015 Energy and Minerals budget estimates was being conducted.

The walk-out was curtain-raised by remarks by Mr Freeman Mbowe,  leader of the Opposition, that, it was pointless for the camp’s members   to continue participating in a session that sought to hide corruption- related issues.

At a media briefing session, he  claimed that CCM had  crafted a stand under which its legislators  were bound  to endorse the ministry’s budget proposals, and defend the government against corruption scandals.

Mr Mbowe said the opposition MPs  had opted to walk out after learning that  their CCM counterparts  had vowed to endorse  the budget without taking their camp’s arguments into account. He described the IPTL scandal  as an issue of critical public interest that needed to be debated thoroughly  in the House but which CCM  legislators weren’t ready to  see happening.

According to him, many MPs had submitted evidence to  the Speaker but it was obvious no good would come out of the initiative.

“We have evidence including the report that was prepared and presented to the government officials by experts on IPTL. They advised what the government could do to face the challenge but nothing has been done so far, ” he said.

He added that Parliament has also failed to table various reports and resolutions, which had been submitted  to Speaker by various select committees.

Earlier, the controversy over the withdrawal of Sh200 billion from the escrow account dominated the debate,  a scandal which some MPs  had wanted Parliament to form an independent committee to investigate it.

They linked the death of former Finance minister, Dr William Mgimwa, to the scandal, which a serious government was supposed to investigate .

During his presentation earlier, opposition MP John Mnyika accused the government of using billions of shillings in court  over the IPTL issue.

“There is information that the former Finance minister declined to release funds and then became sick. When payments were effected in November 2013, Dr Mgimwa was unconscious in South Africa,” reads part of the document.

Mr Mnyika  claimed that the government had been shielding corruption-related issues by failing to take serious action  against the culprits.

Mr Mnyika  told the House that in 2011,  Standard Bank of Hong Kong filed a case at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) demanding Sh360 billion ($225 million) as well as interests in running the case.

The MP said Mkono & Co. Advocates was commissioned  to do the job and confidently assured the government that it was going to win the case. However, Mr Mnyika said some other experienced advocates had advised  that the case would be better handled outside court.

Until 2011/2012 at least Sh10 billion had been spent on running the case by paying Rex Attorneys and other companies that had  been representing the government and Tanesco. In 2012/2013 the government allocated Sh4 billion for the case, the amount includes payments for Mkono & Co. Advocates. In his reaction, Mr Nimrod Mkono (Musoma Rural—CCM) who owns Mkono & Co. Advocates said  he could not comment on anything related to IPTL since he had conflict of interest.

He said he  would do so only after getting a greenlight from the Attorney General.

On escrow account, the MP said the  BoT governor admitted before the Economic Affairs, Industry and Trade Committee in Bagamoyo that there was big pressure over the withdrawal of the cash from the escrow account.

According to Mr Mnyika, the governor told the committee that the pressure was from high ranking leaders and that the committee was just being unfair to him.

Contributing to the matter, MPs said some people who linked to prominent leaders stole the money from the escrow account.

Mr Christopher ole Sendeka (Simanjiro-CCM) told Parliament that he had  strong evidence to prove  that the money was stolen from Standard Chartered and Stanbic banks.

He claimed Sh8 billion ($5 million) was withdrawn from Stanbic Bank and carried in a ‘sulphate bag’. He added that another person drew Sh320 million ($200,000) five times from Standard Chartered Bank.

 “We want this matter to be investigated so that we can understand what is going on,” he said, adding “ I do not understand why some people here are reluctant for this measure, if you are clean on this, why should you worry?”

Mr David Kafulila (Kigoma South-NCCR-Mageuzi) said the formation of the parliament independent team was the only solution to the matter.