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Mwaka huu unaoisha bila ya shaka katika Tanzania umeacha mambo mengi ya kumbukumbu. Yapo yale ya kihistoria na yale ambayo kutokea kwake kuliligusa Taifa zima kwa namna ya pekee. Hata hivyo yawezekana kuna habari moja ambayo tunaweza kuipa heshima ya kuitambua kuwa ndiyo ilikuwa habari kuu ya mwaka 2008 kwa Watanzania. Kupiga kura kwa habari ya mwaka kutafungwa baada ya siku tano kuanzia leo.-Anti-corruption war grips the nation, but Kagoda & others prove elusive
THISDAY REPORTERS
Dar es Salaam
AS the end of 2008 draws near, the Tanzanian public will be looking back at some of the year's major events with a mixture of pride and exasperation, while looking forward with much anxiety to see real justice being done in the ongoing trials of those indicted in what has come to be known as the EPA scam.
The major surprise thus far is that some of the key players in the Bank of Tanzania external payment arrears account embezzlement scandal, including Kagoda Agriculture Limited and Malegesi Law Chambers (Advocates), have continued to be conspicuously missing from the ongoing EPA prosecutions.
More than 20 suspects have already been arraigned at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam in connection with the EPA scam. However, Kagoda, Malegesi and others have somehow managed to avoid the anti-corruption dragnet during 2008.
Still, there have been indicators that more big names could have their day in court as the government's chief prosecutor seeks to hammer home the point that accountability in public office are still an essential part of good governance.
''To argue that taking some people to court on charges of office abuse amounts to compromising national security, will be to merely underrate President (Jakaya) Kikwete's resolve to convince the public that his is not a weak government,'' Simanjiro Member of Parliament Christopher Ole-Sendeka said in an interview.
People involved in the looting of the EPA account at the Bank of Tanzania must be booked no matter what their status may be, asserted Ole-Sendeka, who won his parliamentary seat on a ruling CCM party ticket..
Referring to the ongoing debate on the fate of the owners of Kagoda, the MP insisted that the president is leading a strong government backed by professional and well-disciplined state organs that can't allow individuals facing allegations of wrongdoing to harm the nation.
''These rumours are being circulated by spin doctors of the culprits to spread fear in the public and derail President Kikwete's efforts to fight graft,'' argued Ole-Sendeka.
However, he remains one of those who reject public calls for former president Benjamin Mkapa to face charges of abuse of office, insisting that so far no legally binding evidence has been produced to link Mkapa to any dishonest scheme for making money.
On the contrary, Karatu MP Wilbroad Slaa of the opposition CHADEMA party contends that Mkapa does have a case to answer since most of the high-level corruption cases unravelled over the past year so took place during his 10-year tenure at State House.
However, when asked to comment on the ongoing prosecutions of grand corruption suspects, Civic United Front (CUF) Chairman Professor Ibrahim Lipumba was cautious saying there is a need for a thorough investigation of all allegations, particularly those around the central bank.
Revelations about Kagoda and others must have come as a shock, he noted, further pointing out that : ''What we have obtained through the Ernst & Young audit report is a one-year theft report, but there are allegations dating back to Mkapa's presidency which need to be probed.''
An economist by profession, Prof Lipumba suggested that the BoT may have been even more thoroughly looted than has so far come to light. He called for an independent audit to determine the real damage that grand corruption has caused so far to the national economy.
''Under governments that respect the rule of law and professionalism, the controller and auditor general would have unveiled such misappropriations in previous annual reports,'' he asserted, saying an external audit firm such as Ernst & Young could do the job.
It has been suggested that corruption will continue to flourish in a country where social norms that might induce a sense of shame remain weak. Inducements to corruption in local institutions still exist in spades, which explains why it will be a long and strenuous task to root out the vice.
In the CUF chairman's view, leadership ethics have for so long been neglected in the country, as a result of which there are people still holding public office despite having demonstrated questionable integrity and scruples in the manner by which they appear to have managed to amass personal wealth.
According to some local analysts, there has been an ideological vacuum in the country after ditching the Ujamaa policy, and that is what continues to undermine leadership in general on the one hand.
On the other hand, however, the country is still in the good books of its development partners who commend President Kikwete's bold decision to approve the court indictments of various high-profile businessmen, bureaucrats and politicians involved in the EPA and other scandals.
In its latest statement on Tanzania issued earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says: ''Recent improvements in governance and public accountability are welcome, including the decisive actions taken to investigate and prosecute wrong-doers in the external payments arrears fraud case.''
Still, IMF Deputy Managing Director Murilo Portugal also suggested in the statement that the BoT should continue to improve its internal control mechanisms, drawing on the recommendations of a safeguards assessment report prepared by the Fund in the wake of the EPA scandal.
Portugal said the central bank should re-focus its attention on core tasks of monetary policy and financial supervision, which are crucial to the economy.
BoT Governor Prof. Benno Ndullu has already indicated that management of the EPA account and other related non-core central bank issues will be returned to the Ministry of Finance and Economy.
Since the first week of November this year, the Kisutu court in Dar es Salaam has all but hogged the limelight as the EPA scandal indictments became the focus of public attention.
And in the coming year, that attention is likely to intensify even further as the actual trial hearings related to the scandal begin, the popular expectation being that there will be enough convictions to prove that justice and the rule of law have indeed prevailed.
MMKJ, kwanza heshima mbele, pili kura nimeshapiga, tatu habari kama ya Sakata la Mengi na Masha naona kama umeipa upendeleo wa pekee kwa kitendo tuu cha kuiingiza kwenye kura yako. That was nothing but personality clash imepata mpaka nafasi hii!. Nimeamini Matajiri have power not only to influence decisions but also to make news!.
MMKJ, kwanza heshima mbele, pili kura nimeshapiga, tatu habari kama ya Sakata la Mengi na Masha naona kama umeipa upendeleo wa pekee kwa kitendo tuu cha kuiingiza kwenye kura yako. That was nothing but personality clash imepata mpaka nafasi hii!. Nimeamini Matajiri have power not only to influence decisions but also to make news!.
mwanakijiji, Sakata la Makampuni ya Richmond na Dowans ingeunganishwa na Kujiuluzu kwa Edward Lowassa na kuvunjika Baraza la Mawaziri,
na pia Sakata la Mengi Vs. Waziri Masha na mimi naunga mkono kuwa liondolewe kwani ni suala lililokuwa dogo sana ukilinganisha na masuala mengi ambayo tumeyaacha