The High Court, sitting in Shinyanga specifically to preside over cases involving albino killings, delivered its first judgment on September 23. It sentenced to death three accused persons including the husbands of two wives for abducting and killing a young boy. The wives said they saw severed legs being recovered from a nearby bush which one of the accused had been using for soothsaying.
Reacting to the news that the population of Tanzania (presently approaching 40 million) was growing by 3% and would, therefore, by 2025 have grown to 80 million, the Head of the Tanzania Family Planning Association (UMATI) said that little effort was being made to address family planning issues. The fertility rate during the last two decades was equivalent to six children per woman. He criticized the government and donors for investing more efforts in tackling HIV/Aids and forgetting other areas like family planning which also affected the economy. Collective efforts were needed in addressing family planning issues to arrest the country’s rapid population growth. He said that 40% of the Association’s budget came from the government and the rest from donors. The 2008/09 contraceptive budget was estimated at 9.2bn/- but only 3.5bn/- was released in 2009. The procurement process took six to eight months to identify suppliers and arrange delivery – Guardian
The police have had increasing success in dealing with violent armed robberies which took place during 2009.
Eight people have appeared in court on 14 charges following the July 31 robbery with violence at NMB Bank’s Temeke branch.
They were charged with murdering a security guard and a police officer and stealing over Shs 61 million. Some of the accused also appeared in court charged with stealing a vehicle on June 21 at Magomeni, a car valued at Shs 6 million on March 31 at Mwananyamala, and the robbery of a motorcycle and vehicle, both valued at Shs 25 million, at Changombe. With the exception of the murder charge, the accused pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Three of the accused asked the court to allow them to seek treatment for injuries allegedly caused by torture while in police custody. The request was rejected and they were told that their offences were not bailable and that they would receive treatment in remand.
This is the third time in three years that police have detained suspects they have subsequently appeared in court charged with murder and armed robbery after raids targeting the NMB Bank. On April 20, 2006, armed gangsters waylaid bank vehicles at the Ubungo traffic lights in Dar es Salaam and made off with tens of millions of shillings after killing two people and injuring several others. Sixteen people are facing murder and armed robbery charges at the High Court.
On July 11, 2007, robbers struck at the Bank’s Mwanga branch in Kilimanjaro Region, and killed one person before fleeing with Shs 234 million. Eleven people, including several Kenyans, have been charged in connection with the robbery – The Citizen.
BISHOP GRESFORD CHITEMO (82), who was born in Kilosa, died on All Saints Day 2009. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Morogoro from 1965 until his retirement in 1987 and from 1988 to 1995 he was head of African Evangelistic Enterprise, based in Nairobi. He was a spell-binding preacher, and hundreds in many different countries came to faith through his ministry. He was courageous in defending those in trouble and confronting oppression, even in high places, and missionaries found him an accessible and sympathetic listener, who yet had the wisdom and confidence to make his own decisions. He built especially warm relationships with coastal Anglicans whose tradition was very different from his. Thank you Roger Bowen for this – Editor.
Professor Emeritus DAVID KIMBLE has died aged 87. He started work at the University of Dar Salaam in 1962 as Professor of Political Science and within the year he had set up, and found funds for the Institute of Public Administration – a completely new direction then for an African institution. He also established a programme of training for diplomats from newly independent countries at the Institute – from ASAUK Newsletter No 57
St. Stephen’s Church in Gloucester Road, London, not far from his basement flat, was filled on 21st August last year, for a service of thanksgiving for the life of THOMAS RANDAL SADLEIR, a founder member and, at one time, a committee member of the Britain-Tanzania Society who died on August 11 at 85 years old.
Those of us who knew him realised how much we were going to miss his larger than life personality but it was fascinating to hear from his grandson Nicholas a fund of highly amusing anecdotes which entranced the congregation and, secondly, from his son Gerald, who had clearly inherited his father’s eloquence.
I first met Randal 45 years ago when the wife of an officer at the Ministry of Agriculture’s HQ in Dar es Salaam suddenly collapsed with a brain tumour and the couple had to leave Tanganyika. The officer had been producing a popular weekly radio programme called Mzee Simba (modeled on ‘ the Archers’), and I had been producing a monthly magazine called Ukulima wa Kisasa (Modern Farming) which was circulating in Musoma and surrounding districts. I was told to leave Musoma and report to Dar es Salaam immediately to take over the radio programme and to develop the magazine to cover the whole country. The journey, by Lake Steamer and train, took nearly three days and I was told on arrival to have my first radio script ready ‘by Thursday.’
It did not take long to find the person who would be able to help. He had started the first Swahili newspapers in Tanganyika and had become editor of both of them, as well as most of the government’s public relations material. It seemed that everybody knew him and, in the media world, he knew everybody. Although he was about the same age as me, he soon became almost a father figure and played a major role in preserving both my career and my sanity.
Many obituaries have been published.
The Daily Telegraph wrote: ‘He was one of the last generations of colonial administrators; at 27 he was the youngest district commissioner (in Handeni) and stayed on, at the request of President Nyerere, for 13 years after independence. Speaking to a nationalist rally in the early days, Nyerere had declared that Kutawaliwa ni fedheha and Sadleir probably saved him from prosecution, and the country from probable turmoil, by pointing out to the authorities that this meant “It is a disgrace to be ruled” rather than “We are ruled disgracefully”. The two became close friends, drinking companions at the Cosy Cafe, and Sadleir acted as an intermediary between Nyerere and the new Governor, Sir Richard Turnbull, assisting at what proved to be an unusually harmonious transition.
Randal was he was fond of the old Irishism: “If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, then you’re lucky enough”. On his death, one of his many friends remarked: “If you were lucky enough to know Randal, you were lucky enough.”
Randal Sadleir with the late Mwalimu Nyerere
Mwalimu Nyerere noted ruefully that Sadleir’s sympathy for the nationalist cause before independence was matched only by his forthright opinions of Nyerere’s Government after it. Sadleir was always an unconventional spirit. Mwalimu Nyerere, in rare understatement, called him “unusually individualistic”, while Lord Twining, the then Governor, remarked that he would never make a civil servant because “you are neither civil nor servile”. To diehards in the colonial establishment, Sadleir was an Africanist eccentric; but his integrity, humour and generosity of heart were universally recognised.
In the Swahili language he discovered a lifetime’s fascination that he translated into a real affinity when he served as a very young officer in the King’s African Rifles. Around campfires, Sadleir spoke to his askaris and mastered their tongue, creating a bond that went far beyond command. In Africa and its people he found humanity and, he said, never again felt quite so at home.
He remained an admirer of Nyerere the man, long after his abilities as a ruler were being brought into question. He left Tanzania in 1973, still incurring official disapproval — he pointed out that the ruling TANU party took a tougher line on law and order than the colonial administration.
Cyril Kaunga, at one time head of film making in Tanzania, writes from Tabora: ‘I remember one day in 1959 when he was going on a picnic, with some of his staff, to Bagamoyo. I decided to join the group in order to see the place where our “grandfathers were sold and chained to iron poles” as he put it. He was always jovial with a high sense of humour. As he went to start his Peugeot car Randal noticed that he had no ignition key. Yet the car started and when we asked how he could start it without the key, he looked at us with a side look and said “I am a conjurer, you know.” We learnt later that the car had one button only for ignition and engine start. After visiting the slave market place we expressed anger and hostility at what we had seen. Randal in his Anglicized Kiswahili remarked, “Hii ilikuwa biashara shenzi kabisa” He spoke Kiswahili using English pronunciation – funny but always interesting to listen to. He was endowed with human qualities of high value. He was sympathetic to the poor and their struggle in the fight against the deadly enemies of our nation. Randal Sadleir is dead in body. To me he continues to live forever.’
The first edition of his fascinating book ‘Tanzania. Journey to Republic’ revealing as it did, a remarkable power of memory, soon sold out. It is a very good read and will ensure that he is remembered – David Brewin
Edited by John Cooper-Poole
WIELDING THE AX: STATE FORESTRY AND SOCIAL CONFLICT IN TANZANIA, 1820-2000. Thaddeus Sunseri Ohio University Press, 2009. ISBN 978 0 8214 1865 9. P/B. £22.95.
This is very well researched work on a topic of considerable contemporary importance in relation to forest utilisation and conservation. It is especially good on the wide range of historic use of the coastal forests in particular, not just for material resources, but also for social and ritual purposes by local people. It is also valuable in tracing the development of forest products such as copal and rubber in the 19th century and the subsequent transformation in wealth and status of those who controlled this trade, especially led by the Germans, who introduced scientific forestry to the management of the mangroves, for example.
The writer claims with justification that it was the latter which played a fundamental role in the subsequent Maj-Maji rebellion in the early years of the 20th century, while the post WWI years saw the replacement of the authority of the chiefs by an organised state forest service, followed by an attempt to move people out of the forests and into more controllable villages elsewhere This background work is therefore impressive and forms a unique assemblage of material.
The main thesis and conclusions are more questionable. A hint is given by the constant misuse of the word ‘colonial’ applied to the period of British administration, not over a ‘colony’ but what was a Trusteeship Territory. This is not semantic nit-picking, since there is much castigation of the governing authority (not excluding the post-independence government) for ignoring the rights of local people to the forest; latterly, the targets become international conservationists with their biodiversity agendas, in which the Tanzanian state has been complicit.
While there is good evidence that in recent years both international organisations and state government have all too frequently sidelined the interests of local people, there is insufficient recognition of the need for some degree of control over peasant exploitation (not least with modern equipment) for the long term benefit of all. The question revolves around who should have ultimate power over the allocation of land for forestry and forest reserves, but this work does not address that most intractable of issues.
James McCarthy
BECOMING MUSLIM IN MAINLAND TANZANIA, 1890-2000 by Felicitas Becker. Oxford: OUP for the British Academy, 2008, 364 pp. ISBN 978 0 19 726427 0. £50.
Dr Becker has followed up her doctoral research on S-E Tanzania with a magisterial treatment of the spread of Islam in the Lindi region. Starting from the pre-colonial period, a time of raiding, migration and slave-trading, she shows how ‘big men’, well-armed and involved in coastal trade, controlled and exploited the local people. Few people converted to Islam until after the Maji-Maji war, not because of Arab influence but because they sought protection and social progress during the disruption which lasted until Indirect Rule in 1927. Islam brought a new egalitarianism in place of the exploitation of earlier times.
People could become Muslim without abandoning traditional practices. Some were attracted by the social festivals introduced by the Sufi tarika. Becker traces the foundation of mosques, followed by madrasas, staffed by village waalimu who taught their followers to recite the infallible Qur’an. They and the missions respected one another because both promoted dini, more progressive and authoritative than anything jadi (tradition) could offer. Islam was more accommodating to local tradition than Catholic missions which, unlike the Masasi Anglicans, made few advances in this region. At any rate, Islam became numerically dominant by the 1950s and was instrumental in modifying the region’s matrilineal customs. Chapter 4 throws light on the common complaint that Muslims are educationally disadvantaged compared with Christians.
Muslims often took leading roles in the independence struggle, but afterwards lost influence, being regarded as ‘provincial’ or uneducated compared with the new political leadership. Their inability to influence the ujamaa movement was a symptom of this. In the last twenty years they have felt even more marginalized, partly due to the rise of the Ansar, young Muslim reformists, some of whom have returned from Arabic studies in Saudi to preach a strict Islam modeled on the ways of the Prophet. They are impatient both with government and with the relaxed syncretism and popular sufism of mainstream Muslims – yet (just like fundamentalist Christians returning from studies in USA) fail to understand the need for religion to be contextualized to African needs and culture. There are however indications that the two sides will reach compromise as the Ansar mellow and the mainstream understand the Qur’an better.
The many transcripts of interviews with locals are likely to appeal to readers of TA, so is the account of Muslim and Christian education, and of the growing self-confidence of today’s post-Iranian revolution Muslim youth. Briefer reflections on the Maji-Maji war and the Groundnut Scheme will also interest the non-specialist. But do not expect any simple theories – Becker is scrupulous in deducing no more than the evidence will allow. This does not make for light reading, and some specialist knowledge of anthropology and Islam is required of the reader. The content belies the title – this volume covers only one very limited region of Tanzania. Both Muslim and Christian phenomena are different in other regions.
Roger Bowen
G. THOMAS BURGESS, ‘RACE REVOLUTION AND THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN ZANZIBAR: THE MEMOIRS OF ALI SULTAN ISSA AND SEIF SHARIF HAMAD, Ohio University Press, 2009. 978 0 8214 1852 9 p/b
ISBN 978 0 8214 1852 9 Distributed by Eurospan Group 01767 604972 www.eurospanbookstore.com
This extraordinary book is not yet available in Tanzania, nor in Swahili, but requests are beginning to trickle in for copies to be shipped, photocopied, begged and borrowed by those who have heard of its explosive contents. I bet it won’t be long before an enterprising newspaper serializes the two life stories it chronicles.
Professor Burgess of the United States Naval Academy presents the authorized biographies of two leading Zanzibari figures both of whom have had a front row seat at the tumultuous political events of the last half century on the Isles. Ali Sultan Issa, a key figure in the revolution and in Amani Karume’s revolutionary government, and Seif Shariff Hamad, Minister of Education, Chief Minister, political prisoner and now Presidential candidate of the Civic United Front (CUF), Tanzania’s largest opposition party. But it is the first account that will cause the most controversy.
Hamad recounts with authority and balance his years in the Zanzibar government of Aboud Jumbe and Ali Hassan Mwinyi. The details of his arrest, detention, and the power struggles within the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (party of the revolution) will be of real interest to historians and political pundits. However, parts of the later chapters sound more like a CUF manifesto.
Issa, on the other hand, a self confessed drunkard and philanderer, seems to relish the telling of all the sordid details of his outlandish life story without regard for the reputation of his former colleagues, the revolution or even himself and his family. The blisteringly honest account is liberally peppered with the phrase ‘may Allah forgive me,’ and with good reason. Issa’s racy life: multiple marriages; pot-smoking while Minister of Education then Health and his encounters with key figures of the twentieth century such as Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Tse Tung, Che Guevara, and Nikita Khruschev make his account highly readable. But the picture that emerges of the revolution and the post-revolutionary government is truly compelling. He describes houses being nationalized on his personal whim, policies such as forcing the youth to join work camps and nationalizing imports cooked up overnight while the completely inexperienced ministers had the power to imprison and kill, at will. These young revolutionaries appear drinking and dancing while the rest of the population survives on rations and forced labor. According to Issa, it seems they tried to govern according to socialist principles but really had no idea what they were doing at all.
Prefaced by an excellent introduction that demonstrates mastery of Zanzibar’s tangled history, this book will be a key text in Tanzanian history for many years to come.
Ben Rawlence
WHERE HUMANS AND SPIRITS MEET: THE POLITICS OF RITUALS AND IDENTIFIED SPIRITS IN ZANZIBAR. Kjersti Larsen. Social Identities series, Berghahn Books, New York and Oxford, 2008. x + 173pp (hardback). ISBN 978-1-84545-055-7. £37.50.
Spirit possession is a fascinating cultural phenomenon, and has understandably attracted a lot of attention from ethnographers and others entranced by its beguiling blend of the spiritual and the exotic. Approaches to the study of possession vary along a continuum from the theory that it provides (mostly) women with a crafty means of ensuring that their menfolk pay them greater attention (not least by having to pay for expensive treatments), to the belief that spirits are real and that understanding of possession is only possible through personal experience of it. Most contemporary anthropologists take a middle course by arguing that there’s more to possession than cynical manipulation, and that description and analysis must start from an acknowledgement of the raw reality of spirit possession to those involved. This may seem like a fudge to sceptics who don’t believe in spirits, but it preserves respect for the beliefs of others and allows for careful exegesis.
The islands of the Western Indian Ocean and the countries around its rim are home to a spirit possession complex that coexists with Islam (and other religions) and has spawned its own minor academic industry. Kjersti Larsen’s book is a welcome addition to this burgeoning literature. It is based largely on her doctoral dissertation (Where Humans and Spirits Meet: Incorporating Difference and Experiencing Otherness in Zanzibar Town, University of Oslo, 1995) and provides a detailed account of spirit possession and its rituals in Zanzibar town, focusing in particular on the significance of the gendered nature of spirits and their self-identification as members of different ‘tribes’ (Swahili makabila) or racial and ethnic groups. When men and women are possessed, the possessory spirit (sheitani) typically identifies itself by name and ‘tribe’ to those present, often in response to interrogation by a local doctor or medium (mganga). The tribal affiliation of the spirit determines the type of treatment and actions appropriate to it, and draws together people who have been inhabited by spirits belonging to the same category.
Drawing on her extensive experience of possession rituals in urban Zanzibar, Larsen describes these and related practices at length. She provides a sensitive account of people’s experiences of possession and the ways in which they relate to their spirits. It is refreshing to read an account like this in which some of the uncertainties and differences of opinion about spirit possession are highlighted: indeed many Zanzibaris are themselves deeply sceptical about this phenomenon and question the sincerity of fellow townspeople and villagers who claim to host spirits and in some cases (involving masheitani ya ruhani, Arab and Muslim spirits) have regular sexual relations with them. Some readers will find the theoretical sections of this book, and the introductory chapter in particular, heavy going. But stripped of anthrospeak, the author’s view of possession as the dramatization of other identities, enacted through mimesis (imitation) and at times lightened by parody, seems eminently reasonable. There may be a lot more to spirit possession than role playing, but acting up is certainly a large part of it.
Where Humans and Spirits Meet does not claim to be comprehensive or definitive, but it complements other accounts of possession in Zanzibar (notably Tapio Nisula’s Everyday Spirits and Medical Interventions: Ethnographic and Historical Notes on Therapeutic Conventions in Zanzibar Town, Saarijärvi, 1999) and draws attention to important aspects of this complex phenomenon. A fuller analysis, including a deeper understanding of the particular ‘tribal’ identities ascribed to spirits, can arguably only be undertaken in the context of a historical and comparative study of possession in the wider region. Larsen’s book lacks this broader perspective, but in company with other monographs and articles on spirit possession in this part of the world provides important ethnographic evidence for the larger task. Perhaps more surprisingly it also lacks reference to the most extraordinary set of encounters between Zanzibaris and spirits in recent years: the modern Popobawa panics that began with a vengeance in 1995 (see Tanzanian Affairs 53, 1996). This is perhaps explained in part by the timing of the fieldwork for this book (1991-92 and 1997). But there is no excuse for the multiple misspellings of Swahili in the text and glossary of what is otherwise an attractively produced volume.
Martin Walsh
A nation in darkness
It does not need an advanced economic degree to understand, that no nation can ever claim economic progress where there is no reliable supply of energy, especially in this age. More than ninety percent of Tanzanians have been in darkness since the beginning of time, and little has been done to correct the chronic power rationing problem, while our leaders are taking advantage of the situation by continuing to line their pockets at the tax payer’s expense.
Our leaders are testing people’s will and resolve. Richmond, and Dowan masterminds have plunged the nation into darkness while themselves leading utopian lifestyles. They may never face justice for their criminal offenses.
The common man, the poor and the powerless, who can’t afford expensive generators, and do not reside in the affluent parts of the city where power is never off, have been left to dance to the tune of power rationing year after year. What a shame for a nation blessed with many rivers, abundant fossil and renewable sources of energy sufficient to power the entire nation yet leaving its people in despair, and constantly in darkness.
More than 90 percent of Tanzania’s population has no access to electricity. What plans do our politicians have in place to harness renewable sources of energy after most non-renewable sources are depleted?
It will be very dangerous and extremely expensive to pipe gas from Kilwa – Songo Songo to the Dar es Salaam, Ubungo power plant, a tiny facility surrounded by a huge population. Such undertakings can be done in Kilwa (at the source where space is unlimited ) and electricity could then be transported to wherever it is needed within the country, instead of exposing the population to danger, and burdening the nation with such a huge cost.
Research centers, communication facilities, factories and other businesses need constant and reliable energy supply to meet their production quotas, to retain the labor force; pay workers, and be able to compete in the domestic and international markets. The current environment of two to four working hours a day of a couple of days a month of electricity cannot foster economic progress. The country needs reliable electricity, full stop.
Tanzania is not lacking the financial ability to provide energy to her people. Billions are spent on expensive Land-Cruisers, unwanted and outdated Radar, the losses involving the EPA, the Richmond and Dowans fraudsters. This would be sufficient to bring to an end, the decades-old power problem.
The problem is simply the management; irresponsible, no vision, thinking of today and not the future.
I have never comprehended what the Minister of Energy does. Neither do I understand what TANESCO is for, because its leadership is still the same year after year. Commissions that have cost tax payers billions of shillings have been set up and their findings have never been implemented. The individuals implicated with fraud are still free, yet the petty criminals are paraded daily in the judicial system.
Our leaders must forgo their hefty sitting, training, and travel allowances. In other parts of the world, people pay to attend meetings, yet in our country our leaders must be paid to attend training which is very bizarre considering the fact that our economy is a donor dependant one.
The parliament must act swiftly to turn on the lights for all Tanzanians, otherwise the nation will continue to remain in the darkness with her economic future in limbo.
Unabated continuation of grand corruption will push the nation to a point of no return. Our politicians must read the signs on the wall, telling them clearly, that the nation is rapidly descending into the dark ages, as the voices of the tax payers finance their lucrative positions shouting ‘TURN ON THE LIGHTS’.
Hildebrand Shayo
Tanzanian Notes and Records
My mother Sheila Unwin has a large collection of Tanzania Notes and Records going back to 1934 which we need to dispose of. As they are of great historical interest can you advertise them free to a good home in the next newsletter. You may remember she recently published a book ‘The Arab Chest’.
Vicky Unwin. E-mail: <
TA94 cover features an Iraqw farmer – photograph Briony Campbell
A pdf of the issue can be downloaded here
In several recent statements President Kikwete and other government leaders have made it clear that agriculture, which employs about 80% of Tanzanians, brings in 30% of foreign currency, and contributes 27% to the national income, is to be Tanzania’s top priority in the drive to expedite development.
Launching the programme on August 4th in Dodoma, the President urged the private sector to participate effectively in the implementation of his new ‘Agriculture First’ (Kilimo Kwanza) declaration. He pledged that his government would “engage the private sector in large-scale farming” in a bid to realise the declaration’s objectives and bring about a green revolution in the country. He said that the private sector had been the only missing link in past agricultural initiatives but it was critical in meeting the ‘Agriculture First’ goals.
However, probably mindful of the controversies which have occurred in other African countries like the Sudan, and especially Madagascar, where Saudi Arabian investors were offered a large tract of land for the growing of food crops and the government was then overthrown in a coup d’etat, he added that this did not imply that the agricultural sector’s policy as a whole would be overhauled. The crusade was aimed at injecting fresh vigour into the implementation of various agricultural projects. The President stressed the need to revive the government’s own plantations – some of which formed part of the ill-fated groundnut scheme in the 1950’s as one of the ways of improving agricultural production. “After reviving these plantations, we would like to offer them to the private sector so that they could run them effectively” he said.
Tanzania had 29 million hectares of land suitable for irrigation agriculture but the current data showed that only 400,000 hectares were under irrigation. Commenting on the use of seeds, the President said: “I have already ordered all departments in Prisons and JKT to research and come up with better seed varieties.” He complained that most Tanzanians did not use fertilizers – one of the reasons for poor performance.
Minister for Food and Agriculture Steven Wasira said that his ministry had embarked on a number of initiatives to establish a ‘farmer’s bank’ in collaboration with the government of China to provide capital to small farmers.
Priority in the budget
The government’s 2009/2010 budget reflected the Kilimo Kwanza programme with a 30% increase in expenditure on agriculture including compensation for losses incurred by crop buyers in the cotton sector. There would be exemption from VAT on processed locally grown tea and coffee and on heat-insulated milk cooling equipment as also on farm services – land preparation, cultivation, planting and harvesting. There are also specific budget allocations for the identification and surveying of land for large scale food crop farming. The government has increased subsidies on fertilizer from Shs 7bn in 2005 to Shs 118bn in 2009.
If an important element of a flourishing democracy is the existence of an outspoken elected parliament not afraid to take a country’s administration to task when it fails to satisfy the aspirations of the people, Tanzania now has a flourishing democracy. The parliament of 2009 is hardly recognisable when compared with the performance of earlier parliaments which either didn’t want to or were afraid to tackle the government head on.
On the issue of corruption above all, MP’s are making themselves heard, especially now that they have been allowed to expose it, investigate it, insist on punishment of the guilty parties and propose measures to stop it.
Armed with new powers and donor funding (see TA 93), Tanzania’s National Assembly is nowadays really exercising its authority. Among the many cases where questions have been asked or the Assembly has brought its influence to bear are the following (details in other articles below):
– the Richmond electricity and Bank of Tanzania scandals;
– the controversial sale (and recent reversal of the move) of the Kiwira coal mine;
– the allocation of hunting blocks and trophy fees;
– the performance of Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS), the Tanzania Ports Authority and Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL);
– the Buzwagi gold development agreement; other gold-related deals involving the central bank;
– the DECI pyramid scheme; MP’s wanted to know why no steps were taken in time before people were swindled;
– the national ID project;
– complaints from 12 civil servants who served for over 10 years without being put on the permanent payroll;
– smuggling of ivory to Vietnam;
– seizing and destroying small fishing nets banned by the government; the Minister pointed out that he was only implementing the law the MP’s had themselves passed:
– the failure of TANESCO to submit its master plan; and,
– the sale of Williamson Diamond Mine to Petra Diamonds of South Africa.
MP’s pay and allowances
In August, as in the UK, the salaries and allowances of MP’s themselves came under the spotlight when details were revealed by leading anti-corruption crusader CHADEMA’s Dr Wilbroad Slaa. Just as in UK this was not a popular move as far as some MP’s were concerned. He began to be booed by his colleagues when he advocated salary cuts. He said that their salaries should be made proportional to the salaries of public employees. “Let them jeer me. It will wash off my back, for the final decision will come from my voters next year” he declared.
As in the UK, the Speaker’s sympathies seemed to be with the MP’s who were protesting. In an interview with the Guardian on Sunday the Speaker said it was not true that legislators were earning a huge income. MP’s taxable base stood at Shs 1.8million (£ 840); the rest of the money paid to them was shared with their aides. Critics were wrongly including their allowances and other charges in their monthly salaries. “Is it fair to include a sitting allowance, per diem and other charges in an MP’s monthly pay? Is it also justifiable to include the salary of an assistant to an MP’s monthly pay? ” he asked. He said the allowances paid to the MPs were just the same as the allowances paid to all other public servants of the same rank, adding that all senior officers were paid per diems and sitting allowances.
At the height of this row in July, the Speaker said that a group of people were putting his life in serious danger. This followed alleged reports circulated on the internet that he was plotting to torch parliamentary offices to destroy sensitive files containing negative information about him. Two tabloid newspapers were said to have been running fabricated stories meant to undermine him in his personal and official capacity. He asked the government to strengthen his security.
Praise
The Assembly gained praise when the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority stated that it had achieved 92% in levels of procurement compliance – the highest figure in the country.
STOP PRESS
As this issue of TA went to press, there was further drama surrounding parliament. At a meeting of the CCM National Executive Committee (NEC) a group of MP’s expressed their anger at the way in which Speaker Samuel Sitta had allowed CCM MP’s to be critical of the government. They demanded his resignation. President Kikwete allowed them all to express their opinions – for 17 hours – before a compromise was reached. The Speaker apologised and an ad hoc committee was set up, under former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, to come up with guidelines for the conduct of the party’s MP’s. This decision, which many thought was designed to ‘gag’ CCM MP’s who were not toeing the government line, brought all kinds of criticism from personalities outside parliament. The leader of the official opposition in parliament, Mr Hamad Rashid, said the move by the ruling party was “proof that it does not respect democracy and good governance”. Other opposition leaders suggested that CCM MP’s who were not happy should think about joining the opposition!
The very busy Director General of the Prevention and Control of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Dr Edward Hoseah, has revealed to the investigative newspaper ‘This Day’ that the forthcoming trials of prominent citizens all involved ‘grand corruption.’ Several investigations were being finalised, he said.
Meanwhile, the Swiss Ambassador in Dar, during the launch of an online corruption tracker system, pledged to help Tanzania recover any public funds that may have been stashed away in its banks by corrupt people. The ambassador said his country would also “gladly help to repatriate funds” confirmed to have been looted from Tanzania and hidden in Swiss banks.
‘The least corrupt’
In spite of all this, a new Transparency International report released in July said that Tanzania was the least corrupt nation in the East African region. The Kenya Police were said to be the most corrupt institution in East Africa and Kenya had the highest incidence of corruption at 45%. Uganda was 34% and the figure was similar in Tanzania.
The High Commissioner speaks on ‘grand corruption’
Tanzanian High Commissioner in London, Mrs Mwanaidi Maajar, interviewed in the Guardian, said that ‘in the war on grand corruption, people in other countries shouldn’t judge Tanzania by the number of reports on corruption appearing in the media but by the way the country was fighting the vice. ‘International opinion makers normally focus on what governments are doing about it. For example, people in the UK are keen to know what the government will do to ensure that expenditure-related scandals involving MP’s do not recur because that is what matters the most.’ The Tanzanian government had done a lot to address the corruption problem, she said.
The Richmond case
This scandal, which resulted in the resignation of former Prime Minster Edward Lowassa and other ministers, has been described in detail in earlier issues of TA. A House Select Committee formed in 2007 said there was ample evidence that Richmond was a briefcase company incapable of manufacturing even electric bulbs; it could not have complied with an agreement it made to supply electricity to Tanzania. The committee made many recommendations but there was no reaction from the government for several weeks. MP’s began to complain.
Finally in August the government issued its response entitled: ‘Implementation of the Parliamentary Directives.’ It exonerated PCCB Director-General Edward Hosea and Attorney General Johnson Mwanyika. It also exonerated civil servants whose names had been linked to the contract. None of the officials was liable for legal action and the government would take punitive measures only if an official was implicated in the ongoing court cases against the owners of the Richmond Company. MP’s were far from happy with this and the government came under fire from all sides of the House. Opposition CHADEMA MP Zitto Kabwe told The Citizen that the Richmond debacle had exposed the Government and heightened its differences with parliament.
President Kikwete
After what was described as the ‘fierce debate’ in parliament, rumours began to circulate about a possible involvement by the president himself in the scandal. Within hours of the debate the State House issued a remarkably detailed response strongly denying the rumours.
It said that the president was involved in four different stages of the saga. In the first stage, he allowed Tanesco to hire emergency power generating plants. At the second stage, he asked the World Bank to allow Tanzania to use a portion of its aid granted by the Bank under the Debt Relief Initiative, to pay the cost of hiring emergency power generating plants during the 2006 electricity crisis. The Bank allowed Tanzania to spend $225million to hire emergency power generating plants. Part of the money was used to buy a 100 megawatt power plant. The President was also involved in chairing all cabinet meetings that discussed the 2006 power crisis. During these meetings the President made it clear that despite the looming power crisis, public procurement procedures should be followed to ensure that Tanesco got a competent bidder. At the fourth stage, the President blocked a $10 million down payment to Richmond and demanded accurate reports about the integrity of the Texas-based company. The President had also rejected an application by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, seeking approval for Richmond’s request to receive down payments. The President also demanded thorough research about the company before the releasing of any down payments.
The Radar saga
A ‘This Day’ reporter wrote that it appeared that the PCCB was having difficulty in building an airtight case against some prominent suspects in this three-year long $28 million military radar transaction scandal. In February the PCCB said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had opted to withhold his mandatory consent for the prosecution of the suspects pending further investigations. The paper reported in August that the PCCB had lined up at least five major corruption cases for early prosecution but it was yet to obtain consent from the office of the DPP to prosecute the Radar trial.
Part of the radar component at the International Airport in Dar
The Bank of Tanzania scandal
One of the accused in the case involving the Shs 133 billion losses incurred by the Bank of Tanzania (BOT) has said he made his confession of guilt under duress.
Meanwhile, questions over the BoT’s expenditure were again highlighted in the latest report of the office of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) which reported on fraudulent public procurement procedures, dubious agreements and cheating on allowances which had caused causing massive loss of public funds. Extract: ‘For example, the Dar twin-tower construction agreement indicated that the contractor had to pay both the public liability risk insurance and the damage to property risk insurance. But the BoT also signed an agreement with an insurance agent and paid Shs7.3bn for a similar purpose.’
The Kiwira Coal Mine saga
Several new developments: Following China’s contribution to the construction of the Shs 4.2 million mine in the early 1980s it soon ground to a halt before former President Mkapa’s administration decided to sell it in a controversial deal in which the former president himself with family and partners, was alleged to have bought the mine at a cut-down price.
In July 2009 however the Government absolved Mkapa from suspicions surrounding the mine’s sale telling Parliament that the former President withdrew his 200,000 shares from the firm in 2005 after the firm through which he had bought the shares failed to pay for them. This absolved him from accusations that he used his influence as head of state to engineer the failed venture.
On June 5 Energy and Minerals Minister William Ngeleja announced that the government had taken back the mine and was determined to implement a project to generate 200 megawatts of electricity within 18 months.
Finally, in August, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda announced that China was going to invest $400 million to revive the mine which was no longer operating – The Citizen.
DECI
The Guardian reported in May on a financial scheme, started in 2007 and known as the ‘Development Entrepreneurship Community Initiative’ or DECI – a pyramid or ponzi scheme. In a short space of time membership had grown to some 700,000 and it was believed to have 46 up-country branches. Apparently an alert by the media helped to make ‘largely innocent public and overly gullible government agencies’ wake up to the fact that this money game was criminal. Finally the government issued a statement declaring that enough was enough and effectively prevented the scheme from continuing [see TA 93]
However, 82 Pentecostal Church of Tanzania leaders had earlier called on the government to intervene in favour of DECI in its wrangle with the Bank of Tanzania and the Capital Markets and Securities Authority over the legitimacy of the scheme’s operations. After the government ordered DECI to close down, five DECI officials, said to be pastors of the Pentecostal Church, appeared in court charged with illegally conducting and managing the pyramid scheme.