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Ballali: From twin towers to twitter
By Guardian on sunday correspondent
4th March 2012
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Former Bank of Tanzania chief Daudi Ballali
Last week, The Guardian on Sunday published a story of a man purporting to be the former Central Bank's Governor, Daudi Ballali.
As expected, there were mixed reactions with those 'doubting Thomases' saying the story was in fact proof of their doubt that they didn't in the first place accept the account claimed by the government that the former governor had died in Washington.
This group of Tanzanians do not believe in the mysterious death of Daudi Ballali because there wasn't any concrete evidence to prove that the former Bank of Tanzania chief had died as announced by the state in midnight of May 16, 2008 through a local newspaper, Tanzania Daima.
But, there is another group that is shocked. It simply doesn't believe whether the man on twitter is the real Daudi Ballali. Of course this group is right because dead men tell no tales. To the group, the story is just a hoax aimed at tarnishing the image of the government, portraying it as a 'mafia mob' that can fake the death of senior citizens, like Ballali, just to defend its status quo.
There was another group that chose to remain neutral, watching the unfolding episode with a skeptical eye.
There can be many schools of thought about the mysterious death of the former governor, but there's only one conclusive truth so far; the whole issue was mishandled by the State to the extent of leaving more questions than answers.
This man was the Central Bank's governor for about ten years, and during his tenure the bank was marred by so many mega scandals, including the notorious twin towers, External Payments Arrears and the controversial purchase of the radar from the British Aerospace Engineering (BAE Systems).
Now at the time when all this was committed during the leadership of Ballali, the nation was suddenly told that he was seriously sick and was rushed to the United States of America for medical examination. The first statement that came out in late September, 2007 claimed that the BoT chief was only going abroad for medical examination and he would be back in one month.
After one month the story changed. We were told that the man was seriously sick and might stay outside the country for many more months. From September 2007 to January, 2008 when he controversially resigned, but his letter leaked to the media before reaching the office of the President, was still the head of the Bank of Tanzania.
His resignation coincided with the release of the auditing report by Ernst and Young, which among other things, revealed how $131 million was stolen from the Bank of Tanzania by using forged documents as well as ghost companies.
The burden of all this theft was thrown to Ballali, incredibly making him angry, because according to his closest friends, the $131 million EPA scam was a 'political project' carefully tailored to finance the election expenses within the ruling party during the 2005 election.
In planning the project, Ballali was assured protection no matter what happened, and he also consumed the sweet words of the politicians. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't know that politicians don't mean what they say, and they don't say what they mean.
This is why he even lied to his boss, the former Finance Minister, Zakhia Meghji, by saying all monies paid to Kagoda Agricultural Development was for security matters, a turnaround later on to be a false story.
Kagoda, the company that stole about $30.5 million (Sh50 billion) from the Bank of Tanzania between August and December, 2005, is still haunting the current regime as well as the ruling party. Its identity has remained a mystery though somewhere it transacted business with Yusuf Manji in early 2006.
Till today, Kagoda has remained untouchable to the State.
So the former governor, assured of his security pre and after the EPA project, had strong confidence that everything would work as planned.
However, during the execution of the EPA project, there were those who missed the opportunities and therefore decided to plan the sweet revenge. One of them was an Asian tycoon who used his connection to gather all the details about EPA theft before he authored the dossier that was then circulated online.
Now since Ballali was angry after the politicians he had helped to raise election funds failed to protect him, in January 2008 he was planning a video conference with some selected journalists through which he would have disclosed what EPA was all about, who had blessed it and where the money did go. He was also scheduled to speak about the controversial twin towers.
When the spies got the story, hell broke loose and what happened is that at the last minute, the video conference was cancelled without any explanation. The next stage was how to handle Ballali who was no longer an asset but a liability to the current regime.
At his level his revelation would have adversely undermined the regime as well as changing the direction of wind regarding all the mega corruption scandals directed to him and the Bank of Tanzania.
Tanzanians started getting contradicting statements about this man. While the US embassy in Dar es Salaam insisted that it was ready to assist the government to bring back the former governor, provided the official request was filed by the State, nothing was done.
But, even the name of the hospital or his whereabouts was kept top secret, something that was very unusual because most of the top government officials who are treated abroad can be accessible easily. Today, we are all aware the whereabouts of Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe and Professor Mark Mwandosya!
When Benjamin Mkapa was hospitalised in Switzerland, we were told everything including the name of the hospital as well as being updated regularly about his health conditions.
To Ballali his whereabouts, illness and conditions remained top secret. This was a prime suspect or prime witness in all mega scandals, which this regime vowed to investigate and prosecute, but still his story was top secret to Tanzanians!
By March, 2008, there was another story claiming that the man was in Intensive Care Unit, struggling for his last fight as his health deteriorated. Some claimed that he was poisoned in Dodoma in between August and September, 2007 after news broke out that he was planning to disclose everything to opposition legislators Zitto Kabwe and Dr Willibrod Slaa, as well as his lawyers as an insurance against any accusations directed at him.
What puzzles many is that though the US was willing to ensure that Ballali was repatriated or extradited to Tanzania to answer any charges against corruption, the government wasn't ready to allow that move. It left many wondering why should the same regime that has vowed to prosecute corruption scandals committed under the helm of Ballali be reluctant to see him returning home to answer charges or testify before the court of law.
Finally on May 16, 2008 the news broke out that the former governor had died in Washington, DC. Though some of us were aware that the news about his death has been there a week earlier before the government's announcement, we still didn't publish the story because there was no proof that he was really dead.
Now, after the announcement, we dispatched two journalists who were in New York for training to Washington DC, to follow up the story. Since there was the name of the funeral service company that was contracted to handle Ballali's body, the two journalists, under the assistance of a Washington investigative journalist, started their assignment by tracing the funeral company.
In US all funeral services companies are registered and there's a registry office that keeps all the details. When our journalists and their host traced the funeral company, De Vol Funeral Home, in Washington, they established that the company wasn't registered anywhere in DC. This simply means that the funeral home wasn't there at all, though it had a website.
Confusion reigned in the country when reports surfaced in May, 2008 that the former BoT boss had passed away in the US. Even close family members kept his death a secret before the government made an official announcement a week later.
Ballali's remains were buried in Washington, D.C. on May 23, 2008 at a private funeral arrangement supervised by the De Vol Funeral Home after his body was cremated. Mourners from different parts of the world had sent in condolence messages through a guestbook posted on the funeral home's website.
However, no Tanzanian diplomat attended the funeral, let alone viewing the body, a move that cast doubt about the reports on Ballali's death. Some people questioned why the death of a high profile civil servant like Ballali was treated as a state secret, leaving the issue ensnared in controversy.
In simple wisdom, to clear all the rumours, Ballali's death wouldn't have been a top secret that finally creates more doubts among Tanzanians. He wasn't just an ordinary person but a senior top government official who headed the Central Bank of Tanzania for over ten years.
Apart from that he was one of the prime suspects in mega corruption scandals that rocked the country few years ago. Neither the Tanzania ambassador in Washington nor the country's top diplomat at the UN attended Ballali's funeral.
Asked on May 17, 2008 whether he was aware about the death of former governor, a senior Tanzania diplomat in New York said, "It's puzzling that the people in Tanzania have been the first to know about his (Ballali) death while some of us here are not aware.I will not attend the funeral because I am not aware whether the former governor died."
The diplomat reaction was puzzling. There was also a conflicting report about where he died. While the government report stated that Ballali died on May 16, in a Boston, Massachusetts hospital, the report posted on the funeral home's website stated that the former governor died in his home in Maryland, Washington.
What we know is that during his sickness, he was hospitalised in Boston, but was then discharged two months before his death according to the medical bill seen by The Guardian on Sunday.
On June 7, 2009 The Guardian on Sunday reported exclusively about a row which is simmering between Daudi Ballali's widow and the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), whom Mrs Ballali said should foot $37,000 (Sh49.9m) in unsettled bills for the late central bank governor's medical treatment.
According to sources within Ballali's family, during his treatment in the United States between October 2007 and May 2008, Ballali's total medical bill totalled around $85,000.
Although the main portion of the bill - which was predominantly incurred when Ballali was admitted to a Boston hospital for a haphazardly explained illness - had already been paid by the family's health insurance policy and the remaining $37,000 was outstanding bill.
The $37,000 covered nursing services provided by the hospital after Ballali was discharged but was still kept under special care at his home.
While in Washington and New York our diplomats were not aware about his death, but back home the armed Field Force Unit was dispatched at his farm located a few kilometrs outside Dar es Salaam to ensure that not any official funeral took place there.
Of course the riot squad had the cover story which claimed that they were there to protect the Ballali family against any angry mob that would threaten to loot properties, following the news that the prime suspect in corruption scandal had died in the US.
While the government maintained that Ballali's funeral was a private matter, the truth is very clear that the whole issue was mishandled right from the beginning and that's why this mysterious death would always haunt this regime.
This is why today his story on twitter still counts a lot. It's also the reason anybody can take that advantage to claim that he is still alive, hiding somewhere in United States of America.
The question is if he is alive why should he blow his cover? Doesn't he fear the same individuals he claimed were very powerful in Tanzania? What's his intention to emerge at this particular time?
In the world of spies, faking other people's death is part of the game. That's why sometimes some people don't believe that the former BoT governor died, but he simply sealed a deal with the state to ensure that he doesn't spoil the image of those who thought he knew a lot.
It's strongly believed that Ballali authored a secret dossier detailing how major corruption scandals took place within the Bank of Tanzania under the blessing of some top politicians within the government as well as the ruling party.
When the news broke out about the possibility of leaving behind a toxic dossier, spies were busy chasing the documents, which they kept in London, Washington and somewhere in East Africa. The condition was that if he died without telling his side of the story, this document would then be released at the right time.
That's why the man on twitter might not be the real Ballali, but someone who knows exactly what he is doing, acting to fulfill the will of the late governor. He speaks with confidence because he has the other side of the story, which many of us are not aware about.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
0 Comments | Be the first to comment
Parliament
Home ï¿ News
Ballali: From twin towers to twitter
By Guardian on sunday correspondent
4th March 2012
Comments
Former Bank of Tanzania chief Daudi Ballali
Last week, The Guardian on Sunday published a story of a man purporting to be the former Central Bank's Governor, Daudi Ballali.
As expected, there were mixed reactions with those 'doubting Thomases' saying the story was in fact proof of their doubt that they didn't in the first place accept the account claimed by the government that the former governor had died in Washington.
This group of Tanzanians do not believe in the mysterious death of Daudi Ballali because there wasn't any concrete evidence to prove that the former Bank of Tanzania chief had died as announced by the state in midnight of May 16, 2008 through a local newspaper, Tanzania Daima.
But, there is another group that is shocked. It simply doesn't believe whether the man on twitter is the real Daudi Ballali. Of course this group is right because dead men tell no tales. To the group, the story is just a hoax aimed at tarnishing the image of the government, portraying it as a 'mafia mob' that can fake the death of senior citizens, like Ballali, just to defend its status quo.
There was another group that chose to remain neutral, watching the unfolding episode with a skeptical eye.
There can be many schools of thought about the mysterious death of the former governor, but there's only one conclusive truth so far; the whole issue was mishandled by the State to the extent of leaving more questions than answers.
This man was the Central Bank's governor for about ten years, and during his tenure the bank was marred by so many mega scandals, including the notorious twin towers, External Payments Arrears and the controversial purchase of the radar from the British Aerospace Engineering (BAE Systems).
Now at the time when all this was committed during the leadership of Ballali, the nation was suddenly told that he was seriously sick and was rushed to the United States of America for medical examination. The first statement that came out in late September, 2007 claimed that the BoT chief was only going abroad for medical examination and he would be back in one month.
After one month the story changed. We were told that the man was seriously sick and might stay outside the country for many more months. From September 2007 to January, 2008 when he controversially resigned, but his letter leaked to the media before reaching the office of the President, was still the head of the Bank of Tanzania.
His resignation coincided with the release of the auditing report by Ernst and Young, which among other things, revealed how $131 million was stolen from the Bank of Tanzania by using forged documents as well as ghost companies.
The burden of all this theft was thrown to Ballali, incredibly making him angry, because according to his closest friends, the $131 million EPA scam was a 'political project' carefully tailored to finance the election expenses within the ruling party during the 2005 election.
In planning the project, Ballali was assured protection no matter what happened, and he also consumed the sweet words of the politicians. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't know that politicians don't mean what they say, and they don't say what they mean.
This is why he even lied to his boss, the former Finance Minister, Zakhia Meghji, by saying all monies paid to Kagoda Agricultural Development was for security matters, a turnaround later on to be a false story.
Kagoda, the company that stole about $30.5 million (Sh50 billion) from the Bank of Tanzania between August and December, 2005, is still haunting the current regime as well as the ruling party. Its identity has remained a mystery though somewhere it transacted business with Yusuf Manji in early 2006.
Till today, Kagoda has remained untouchable to the State.
So the former governor, assured of his security pre and after the EPA project, had strong confidence that everything would work as planned.
However, during the execution of the EPA project, there were those who missed the opportunities and therefore decided to plan the sweet revenge. One of them was an Asian tycoon who used his connection to gather all the details about EPA theft before he authored the dossier that was then circulated online.
Now since Ballali was angry after the politicians he had helped to raise election funds failed to protect him, in January 2008 he was planning a video conference with some selected journalists through which he would have disclosed what EPA was all about, who had blessed it and where the money did go. He was also scheduled to speak about the controversial twin towers.
When the spies got the story, hell broke loose and what happened is that at the last minute, the video conference was cancelled without any explanation. The next stage was how to handle Ballali who was no longer an asset but a liability to the current regime.
At his level his revelation would have adversely undermined the regime as well as changing the direction of wind regarding all the mega corruption scandals directed to him and the Bank of Tanzania.
Tanzanians started getting contradicting statements about this man. While the US embassy in Dar es Salaam insisted that it was ready to assist the government to bring back the former governor, provided the official request was filed by the State, nothing was done.
But, even the name of the hospital or his whereabouts was kept top secret, something that was very unusual because most of the top government officials who are treated abroad can be accessible easily. Today, we are all aware the whereabouts of Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe and Professor Mark Mwandosya!
When Benjamin Mkapa was hospitalised in Switzerland, we were told everything including the name of the hospital as well as being updated regularly about his health conditions.
To Ballali his whereabouts, illness and conditions remained top secret. This was a prime suspect or prime witness in all mega scandals, which this regime vowed to investigate and prosecute, but still his story was top secret to Tanzanians!
By March, 2008, there was another story claiming that the man was in Intensive Care Unit, struggling for his last fight as his health deteriorated. Some claimed that he was poisoned in Dodoma in between August and September, 2007 after news broke out that he was planning to disclose everything to opposition legislators Zitto Kabwe and Dr Willibrod Slaa, as well as his lawyers as an insurance against any accusations directed at him.
What puzzles many is that though the US was willing to ensure that Ballali was repatriated or extradited to Tanzania to answer any charges against corruption, the government wasn't ready to allow that move. It left many wondering why should the same regime that has vowed to prosecute corruption scandals committed under the helm of Ballali be reluctant to see him returning home to answer charges or testify before the court of law.
Finally on May 16, 2008 the news broke out that the former governor had died in Washington, DC. Though some of us were aware that the news about his death has been there a week earlier before the government's announcement, we still didn't publish the story because there was no proof that he was really dead.
Now, after the announcement, we dispatched two journalists who were in New York for training to Washington DC, to follow up the story. Since there was the name of the funeral service company that was contracted to handle Ballali's body, the two journalists, under the assistance of a Washington investigative journalist, started their assignment by tracing the funeral company.
In US all funeral services companies are registered and there's a registry office that keeps all the details. When our journalists and their host traced the funeral company, De Vol Funeral Home, in Washington, they established that the company wasn't registered anywhere in DC. This simply means that the funeral home wasn't there at all, though it had a website.
Confusion reigned in the country when reports surfaced in May, 2008 that the former BoT boss had passed away in the US. Even close family members kept his death a secret before the government made an official announcement a week later.
Ballali's remains were buried in Washington, D.C. on May 23, 2008 at a private funeral arrangement supervised by the De Vol Funeral Home after his body was cremated. Mourners from different parts of the world had sent in condolence messages through a guestbook posted on the funeral home's website.
However, no Tanzanian diplomat attended the funeral, let alone viewing the body, a move that cast doubt about the reports on Ballali's death. Some people questioned why the death of a high profile civil servant like Ballali was treated as a state secret, leaving the issue ensnared in controversy.
In simple wisdom, to clear all the rumours, Ballali's death wouldn't have been a top secret that finally creates more doubts among Tanzanians. He wasn't just an ordinary person but a senior top government official who headed the Central Bank of Tanzania for over ten years.
Apart from that he was one of the prime suspects in mega corruption scandals that rocked the country few years ago. Neither the Tanzania ambassador in Washington nor the country's top diplomat at the UN attended Ballali's funeral.
Asked on May 17, 2008 whether he was aware about the death of former governor, a senior Tanzania diplomat in New York said, "It's puzzling that the people in Tanzania have been the first to know about his (Ballali) death while some of us here are not aware.I will not attend the funeral because I am not aware whether the former governor died."
The diplomat reaction was puzzling. There was also a conflicting report about where he died. While the government report stated that Ballali died on May 16, in a Boston, Massachusetts hospital, the report posted on the funeral home's website stated that the former governor died in his home in Maryland, Washington.
What we know is that during his sickness, he was hospitalised in Boston, but was then discharged two months before his death according to the medical bill seen by The Guardian on Sunday.
On June 7, 2009 The Guardian on Sunday reported exclusively about a row which is simmering between Daudi Ballali's widow and the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), whom Mrs Ballali said should foot $37,000 (Sh49.9m) in unsettled bills for the late central bank governor's medical treatment.
According to sources within Ballali's family, during his treatment in the United States between October 2007 and May 2008, Ballali's total medical bill totalled around $85,000.
Although the main portion of the bill - which was predominantly incurred when Ballali was admitted to a Boston hospital for a haphazardly explained illness - had already been paid by the family's health insurance policy and the remaining $37,000 was outstanding bill.
The $37,000 covered nursing services provided by the hospital after Ballali was discharged but was still kept under special care at his home.
While in Washington and New York our diplomats were not aware about his death, but back home the armed Field Force Unit was dispatched at his farm located a few kilometrs outside Dar es Salaam to ensure that not any official funeral took place there.
Of course the riot squad had the cover story which claimed that they were there to protect the Ballali family against any angry mob that would threaten to loot properties, following the news that the prime suspect in corruption scandal had died in the US.
While the government maintained that Ballali's funeral was a private matter, the truth is very clear that the whole issue was mishandled right from the beginning and that's why this mysterious death would always haunt this regime.
This is why today his story on twitter still counts a lot. It's also the reason anybody can take that advantage to claim that he is still alive, hiding somewhere in United States of America.
The question is if he is alive why should he blow his cover? Doesn't he fear the same individuals he claimed were very powerful in Tanzania? What's his intention to emerge at this particular time?
In the world of spies, faking other people's death is part of the game. That's why sometimes some people don't believe that the former BoT governor died, but he simply sealed a deal with the state to ensure that he doesn't spoil the image of those who thought he knew a lot.
It's strongly believed that Ballali authored a secret dossier detailing how major corruption scandals took place within the Bank of Tanzania under the blessing of some top politicians within the government as well as the ruling party.
When the news broke out about the possibility of leaving behind a toxic dossier, spies were busy chasing the documents, which they kept in London, Washington and somewhere in East Africa. The condition was that if he died without telling his side of the story, this document would then be released at the right time.
That's why the man on twitter might not be the real Ballali, but someone who knows exactly what he is doing, acting to fulfill the will of the late governor. He speaks with confidence because he has the other side of the story, which many of us are not aware about.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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