C O N F I D E N T I A L DAR ES SALAAM 000277
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR INR, R.EHRENREICH
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/13/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL TZ
SUBJECT: KIKWETE CORRUPTION TIDBIT
Classified By: Ambassador Michael Retzer, Reason 1.5 (d)
¶1. (C) President Kikwete has accepted gifts (bribes) from
the owner of the Kempinski Hotel chain,s Tanzanian
properties, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates.
¶2. (C) In a conversation with the manager and the publicity
director of Dar Es Salaam,s Kilimanjaro-Kempinski Hotel
hours after accompanying A/S Frazer to her October 18, 2005
meeting with then-Foreign Minister Kikwete, I commented on
Kikwete's flashy attire, asking "Who dresses him?" "We do,"
they responded. Initially thinking this meant Kikwete
frequented a men,s shop in the hotel, I learned later in
the
evening from hotel publicity director Lisa Pile (protect)
that the hotel owner*UAE citizen Ali Albwardy*had recently
flown Kikwete to London for a subsidized shopping
expedition.
Among other things, on that trip Ali Albwardy bought
Kikwete
five Saville Row suits. He had also recently made a $1
million cash contribution to the CCM (which is a legal
contribution under current Tanzanian law).
¶3. (C) Pile told me the Kempinski Hotel chain is greatly
expanding its presence in Tanzania. She said that in
December it would open "the best hotel in Zanzibar." Her
prediction was a little off; the new Kempinski hotel,
located
on the beach on Zanzibar,s east coast, opened January 5. I
attended the opening ceremony along with Zanzibari
President
Karume, who was asked publicly by Ali Albwardy for a site
in
Stone Town to build a new hotel. Later that day, Pile
revealed that the Zanzibar government had already earmarked
for Ali Albwardy a hotel site in Stone Town.
¶4. (C) Pile also said in the October 18 conversation that
Ali
Abwardy was about to receive the rights to construct two
new
hotels on the mainland: one on the edge of Ngorongoro
Crater
and another on the Serengeti plain overlooking the main
animal migration routes. Stringent conservation rules
currently ban the construction of permanent structures
inside
national parks*including in the crater and on the Serengeti
plain*but Pile said that in November legislation would be
introduced to parliament to authorize the new hotels.
(Comment: We have received no reports on new legislation,
but
the Dar Es Salaam Daily News on January 15 reported that
the
Tanzania National Parks Authority had approved construction
of a five star hotel on the Serengeti plain.)
¶4. (C) Later on October 18, over dinner, an Indian/South
Asian man described as a business associate of Ali Albwardy
briefly took Pile from the table for a conversation in
Kiswahili. I am not sure what was said, but Kikwete's name
came up several times and he passed her an envelope. Pile
told me the envelope was stuffed with 1 million shillings
( $1,000) and was to pay for a Kikwete meeting at the
Kilmanjaro-Kempinski later that month. Apparently Kikwete
is
a regular customer, but no name ever appears on the hotel
registry when a government bigshot has an "event" in one of
the guest rooms.
¶5. (C) Bio Note: Lisa Pile, an Australian citizen, has
lived
in Dar working for Kempinski Hotels since early 2004.
Before
that she had served in a similar capacity with the
Kempinski
chain in China. Her family in Australia is prominent in
Australia's Liberal Party (the center-right party of Prime
Minister John Howard).
¶6. (C) Comment: What does it all mean? I don,t know, but
my guess is that the investor Ali Albwardy has access to
oil
money out of the UAE. I suspect giving free clothes and
the
campaign donation is just the way these people do business.
¶7. (C) For his part, Kikwete probably thinks having all
these
five star hotels around is a good idea for the country,and
I
agree with him. His new minister of Natural Resources and
Tourism, Anthony Diallo, says he wants to double tourism,s
contribution to the national economy in ten year,s time.
Kikwete probably believes there is no harm in taking these
&little gifts8 to do what he would have been inclined to do
anyway. That said, they are what they are: bribes.