After almost fifty successful years of leadership of Tanzania by the always united ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, and with the next general election less than a year away, the party is no longer able to conceal the extent of its internal divisions which are being publicised in the media almost daily. Some observers recalled the late Mwalimu Nyerere’s view that CCM would never be removed from power by small opposition parties. A major change would only happen if the party were to split.

The freedom with which the press and the people are now able to express themselves in Tanzania, particularly on the issue of corruption, has provided ammunition for those keen to see the end of what some consider to be a continuation of ‘one party’ government. The opposition parties never cease to attack the government on the corruption issue and, judging by recent by-election results, they are increasing in popularity in certain parts of the country. The seriousness of the situation for CCM was illustrated at acrimonious meetings of the party’s Central and Executive Committees in August last year when there were accusations that the leadership was trying to ‘gag’ its own MPs. Several of the more outspoken CCM MP’s warned the party on the dangers if vigorous action was not taken against the many leading figures in the country now being charged in court on corruption charges.

Former Prime Ministers join in
Critical remarks by two former prime ministers, Joseph Warioba and Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, supported by Nyerere Foundation Director Joseph Butiku, seem to have exacerbated the situation. Opposition CHADEMA Secretary General, Wilbroad Slaa lauded the ex-premiers for having the ‘courage’ to speak out. CUF Chairman Lipumba said they had donned the mantle of Mwalimu Nyerere who was being sorely missed by the country – Mwananchi.

Anti-sleaze MPs on war footing
At a rally in which some of the CCM MP’s, known as ‘crusaders against corruption’ said they had decided to hold joint rallies in their constituencies so as to educate the masses on the plot by ‘corrupt politicians’ to unseat them by pouring in ‘dirty money.’ They included Dr Harrison Mwakyembe (MP for Kyela) author of the highly critical report on the Richmond scandal – see below. They claimed their rivals in CCM were spending Shs 400 million in each constituency in efforts to defeat them at the next elections in 2010 – Tanzania Daima.

A Committee of three ‘wise men’ set up
In reaction, the party quickly took the decision to set up a committee of three ‘wise men’ to oversea the restoration of party unity and to fix the party’s growing image problem.
According to the investigative newspaper This Day, the committee, comprising ex-President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, ex-Parliamentary Speaker Pius Msekwa, and former Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly Abdulrahman Kinana had, as its primary task, to seek ways of healing what was described as the deep rift between a growing number of CCM MP’s and the central party establishment. The party was said to have ‘become beholden to a few rich individuals’ and the CCM secretariat had ‘even failed to meet regularly with the MPs to listen to their views.’

Political analysts were quoted in the paper as saying that many incumbent CCM MPs were choosing to become vocal about corruption for fear of being regarded by their constituencies as being part of the problem. The paper went on: ‘The National Executive Committee meeting had been virtually dominated by a brazenly overt…. campaign from within, to unseat the incumbent Speaker of the National Assembly, Samwel Sitta, who had made clear his own strong aversion to the ‘grand corruption vice.’ Political observers were quoted as saying that if allowed to escalate, the fall-out from the meeting might eventually lead to a complete disintegration of CCM as the country’s most powerful political party.

By November, the meetings of the three wise men were being described in the Swahili press as having become ‘fiery’ with divisions between the reformist and conservative camps becoming obvious. While the latter defended former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa who had had to resign following revelations about the Richmond corruption case (see below), and his supporters, the former called for their expulsion from the party. One meeting was said to have started at 8 pm and ended at 1.30 am. Some were calling for the resignation of CCM Secretary General Yusuf Makamba who was said to have left one meeting when the exchanges ‘became too hot for his hypertension.’

The media indicated that the tug-of-war seemed to be led by Speaker Samuel Sitta and prominent businessman Reginald Mengi from the reformist camp while Edward Lowassa and CCM Secretary General Yusuf Makamba lead the conservative side. Former President Mwinyi told TA that his three-man committee had encouraged the different groups to express their views freely to each other so that issues could be brought into the open. He intended to complete his report during the month of December.

Main opposition party also divided
All is not well in the main opposition party on the mainland, CHADEMA. During a Central Committee meeting attended by some 600 delegates, prominent MP Zitto Kabwe, Deputy Secretary General, (who has much support among younger party members) and is clearly ambitious, was apparently dissuaded from trying to unseat Freeman Mbowe as Party Chairman, only by the intervention of party elders including the founder of the party, one time Finance Minister Edwin Mtei.
According to numerous reports in the Swahili press, the elders knew that a tug-of-war for chairmanship between Kabwe and Mbowe would not be good for the party. Apparently, they suggested that Kabwe should instead be offered the post of Secretary General but he was said to have rejected the proposal outright, and proposed instead that both he and Mbowe should pull out and that present Secretary General Dr. Wilbroad Slaa should become chairman instead. Kabwe denied that the struggle was ideological, with him on the left and Mbowe on the right.

In elections in September for CHADEMA young peoples’ and women’s groups differences continued between young and older members of the party and the elections had to be postponed until later. Slaa complained that these party elections had already cost Shs 50 million which was enough to build a dispensary. “Our party just can’t afford this kind of expenditure” he said.

At the meeting, mother of Kabwe, Shida Salum, was quoted in virtually all the Swahili press, as standing up to defend her son, accusing some leaders of being corrupt. “I know Zitto. He is not on sale and can’t be bought,” she said.
Veteran former leader Edwin Mtei was said to have pointed out that Zitto Kabwe was still young and so would be in a good position to vie for the party chairmanship in 2015 or 2020. When asked if he intended to run for the presidency in 2015 Kabwe said that by then he would still be below the statutory age of 40 required by the constitution.
Another row erupted later when Dr Slaa terminated two party officials said to be close to Kabwe. Both then resigned from the party and one joined the small NCCR party.

When contacted about all this, Party Chairman Mbowe admitted that the party had problems but said that other parties were ‘down with cancer’ while for CHADEMA it was just a normal hiccup – Rai.

Tanzanian Affairs has been giving prominence in recent issues to reports on the various corruption cases which have been widely and frequently debated in Parliament, the media and elsewhere.

Kikwete – “578 Cases in court”
In a historic first ‘question and answer session’ broadcast live on all major television and radio networks on September 9, President Kikwete answered many questions, from around the country, on corruption. “We have taken steps and, as we speak, there are 578 corruption cases in the courts” he said. He added that the number was only 58 in 2005 when he had assumed power. He brushed off claims that his government was harbouring people suspected of grand corruption within the government and the ruling CCM party.

He also dismissed claims that the ruling party of which he was Chairman, was silencing MP’s who spoke out about corruption in the National Assembly. He also cited cases currently going on in various courts as well as senior public officials who were facing charges of abuse of office and embezzlement. He said that the respective anti-corruption agencies were finalising two or three cases involving high-profile personalities. “Our party would like MPs to speak out and assess their government” he said, “but that should be done in a way that protects the party’s interests too.”

Tanzania drops 24 places
A few days later, the international Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog ‘Transparency International (TI)’ released a report showing that Tanzania had dropped 24 places in the ‘Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI)’ from the 102nd position in 2008 to the 126th spot in 2009.

The CUF Leader in Parliament, Hamad Rashid Mohammed, said the Judiciary did not act fast to clear pending corruption cases, while the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) was dragging its feet in investigating allegations of grand corruption. Hamad told The Citizen that, although Parliament had been at the forefront in the fight against graft, many corruption scandals had been exposed but the Executive and Judiciary had so far done nothing.
Another government critic said that many corruption suspects were being acquitted because of the PCCB’s ‘shoddy investigations’ and its failure to effectively prosecute those charged with corruption.

The PCCB Public Relations Officer said she had not seen the TI report, but added that reports that Tanzania had fared better than other East African countries were ‘encouraging’. Rwanda had won accolades for wide-ranging steps to improve governance and gone up 14 positions to break into the top 100. Burundi, the worst performer in the region, was ranked 168th. Tanzania’s best ranking was 94 in 2007, when Parliament finally set up the PCCB.

The long-running Richmond saga (see earlier issues of TA)
The investigative newspaper ‘This Day’ revealed in October that, in addition to all the other irregularities, the controversial Richmond Development Company (which had later become Dowans Holdings), had tried to obtain more than $115 million from the government in 2006 for capacity and energy charges, under the later badly discredited emergency power supply contract it had signed. But, according to the paper, this represented a hefty profit as it had only spent $30m to install the planned 100-megawatt power plant in Dar es Salaam.

According to government sources quoted by the paper, Richmond/Dowans was subsequently paid more than $42m. The government had also paid $4,865 (approx. Shs 6bn/-) for airlifting some of the power generators, consumables, and other accessories from the United States. But, apparently, what the company brought in was only 20MW of power generating sets – one fifth of what was needed under the contract. This however, still represented a hefty profit for Richmond, considering that the company spent just $30 million to install the plant in Dar es Salaam.

Dowans Holdings apparently bought the remaining power generators from South Africa. But a government technical team sent to Cape Town in December 2006 to assess the trailer-mounted turbines, was said to have discovered that some of the equipment was rusty.

The formal termination of the contract between Richmond/Dowans and the government in 2009 paved the way for certain persons to set in motion yet another plan to obtain $69 million by selling the power generators to the government. It was only the fierce opposition to the proposal mounted by the parliamentary Energy and Minerals Committee and others, that blocked this from going ahead.

Towards the end of last year, while some MP’s were becoming increasingly restive as they waited to hear the government’s reactions to the numerous recommendations in the parliamentary report dated February 2007, the government announced that it intended to resurrect the company, as electricity supplies were again proving inadequate – The Guardian.

In October 2009, according to the Guardian, there was some surprise, amid escalating power rationing, that the government’s call for tenders for new emergency power generating plants failed to attract any competent bidders.

Government takes over and starts producing electricity
Eventually President Kikwete directed the appropriate ministers to take over the plant, which had been idle for several years, from its liquidators, to ease the crippling shortage of electricity.

Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) then told the High Court that this decision was contrary to a court order that had placed the company under receivership and asked the court to halt the move as it would be unfair. The case was adjourned – Mwananchi.

During November the plant finally began producing electricity.

The Bank of Tanzania’s ‘Two Towers’ scandal

The Bank of Tanzania's two towers in Dar-es-Salaam

There are four cases of alleged corruption involving the Bank of Tanzania.
Prosecution in the first has been proceeding slowly. Former Bank Director of Personnel and Administration Amatus Liyumba, on trial for causing over Shs 221 billion loss to the government, told the court that the decision to revise the cost of building the bank’s headquarters was made by the Board of Directors and the Bank’s Governor, not him. Nothing could have been done without the approval of the Board. The prosecution charges that Mr Liyumba
and Mr Balali changed the scope and added extra works not covered in the contract, making the original tender cost
shoot up from $73 million to $357 million. The project involved building a 14 storey north tower at a cost of US$ 26 million and a south tower at US$ 29 miliion.

The ‘whistleblower’
In mid-November the Guardian on Sunday published a tribute to the person it described as the ‘whistleblower’ in the case who had, in April 2006, made the bold decision to go public. ‘Knowing that his decision, apart from costing him his job could also cost him his life, the man acted in the interest of his fellow countrymen.’

As expected, he lost his job and faced attacks from the Bank through a press release questioning his integrity as an engineer. The person concerned was reported now to consider himself lucky, because if he had approved the project, he would be spending his days and nights at the Keko Maximum Prison with his former boss Amatus Liyumba.’ He was transferred to Mwanza, where he spent two years more or less aimlessly. “They wanted to keep me away from HQ” he was quoted saying. “I feel so bad for being paid for doing nothing” he added. He was reported to be living happily in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam where he was running a construction firm to get by. “I would have made millions” he said.

Banknotes scandal
The Citizen reported in September that four senior employees of the Bank had been charged over the loss of Shs 104 billion, in yet another scandal involving the inflation of the cost of printing new bank notes.
The fourth scandal concerns the siphoning off, by some 22 companies, of Shs 133 billion through the Bank’s EPA account which has been described in detail in earlier issues of TA.

Gold auditing case
In this case, former senior cabinet ministers Basil Mramba and Daniel Yona (plus two other senior officials) have been charged with abuse of office that caused the Government a loss of over Shs 221 billion after granting tax waivers to a gold auditing firm, Alex Stewart (Assayers). The controversial assignment saw the company take $50 million in fees which sparked off a public outcry. Seventeen witnesses were being called to testify against the former ministers but the defence refused to reveal the names of their witnesses. The magistrates accepted this before the case was adjourned – Guardian.
The prosecution said, during the preliminary hearing, that Mramba signed government notices exempting the corporation from taxes in disregard of advice given by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and had prepared an agreement between the company and the BoT which was amended without Attorney General and cabinet approval.

The Radar saga back in the limelight
Attention in the Radar case has switched to the UK where the Senior Fraud Office (SFO) has completed its enquiries and is asking the Attorney General to proceed with the prosecution of BAE which supplied the equipment. The Times of London wrote that if BAE would agree to pay up to £500 million (Tanzania is not the only country in which the company is accused of paying bribes) in a ‘plea bargain’ the problem could be resolved. But BAE felt that any admission of guilt would be unacceptable as it would undermine its huge markets in the USA and other countries. The paper said, that faced with the SFO’s ultimatum, it had decided to call the SFO’s bluff. It indicated that if the figure (for the Tanzania case) was in the range of £10-20 billion and that BAE would not be tainted with corruption and instead face lesser charges, negotiations might be renewed. However, the article went on to say that in dealing with Prime Minister Gordon Brown (and not Tony Blair) BAE would be likely to be rebuffed.

Progress in the investigations in Tanzania has been going slowly – the Director General of the PCCB was said to be waiting for the final report from the SFO in the UK. The key individuals being investigated by the PCCB include former Attorney General Andrew Chenge, former Bank of Tanzania Governor Idris Rashid, and prominent businessmen Tanil Somaia and Shailesh Vithlani. The local and foreign investigations forced Chenge to resign from the cabinet last year – Guardian.

MP’s allowances
As in Britain, allowances provided for MP’s, have become a cause of discord in Tanzania. Some MP’s are being accused of taking double payments from meetings they attend – Nipashe.
The opposition has said that the whole system is rotten and the PCCB has set in motion a number of investigations. It has been alleged that some corporations and government institutions have been paying Shs 200,000 daily to MP’s who also get parliamentary day allowances. House Speaker Samuel Sitta and others have been quoted in the Swahili press as justifying the allowances as ‘traditional Tanzanian hospitality’ and that the PCCB should not be investigating MP’s without consulting him.

Presidents Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Mwai Kibaki (Kenya) and Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi) at the signing of the EAC Common Market Protocol. Picture Paul Sarwatt

East African Community (EAC) leaders formally agreed on November 20 to allow free trade, movement of people and right of residence in the region, with the signing of the protocol establishing a common market. This followed protracted negotiations between the five member states. All promised to arrange for ratification without delay. President Museveni of Uganda underlined the new found spirit of integration by inviting the other EAC members to become partners with Uganda in drilling for the oil that had been discovered there recently.

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.

According to Nipashe, while opening a tourist hotel in the Serengeti Park, President Kikwete was seen to be visibly annoyed with the Regional Commissioner for Mara, because of the way he was considered to be running his region. He asked the RC to leave the function and go and deal with his problems including tribal clashes in Rorya and Tarime districts and the environmental degradation caused by North Mara gold mines and his failure to submit a report he had been asked to submit.