Mystery surrounds Lowassa interview on State television
By Polycarp Machira
THE CITIZEN
The Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBS) on Saturday night cut short an interview with former Prime Minister that was being aired on TVT.
While inside sources said they believed that the State-owned TV station was ordered to suspend the programme, leaving viewers in a state of confusion, TBC managing director Tido Mhando strongly refuted the claims in a telephone interview with The Citizen yesterday.
He said there was no truth in reports that TBC had implemented �orders from above, but was at pains to explain exactly what caused the programme to be cut short.
Mr Mhando added that the programme aired on Saturday was just a section of TVT�s exclusive interview with Mr Lowassa, adding that nobody ordered that the show be taken off air.
�I called the producer immediately the programme ended, asking why it had not gone to its conclusion it seems that the programme was inadvertently cut short.
The TBC boss dismissed claims that the corporation was grappling with State interference in its duties.
How could people even have such thoughts? We don't experience any interference in our work. No one exerts pressure on us to broadcast or not to air anything, he added.
Mr Mhando said TBC enjoyed cordial relations with government officials, saying no one obstructed them in their work, contrary to the belief that its radio and television programmes were censored.
He added that TVT planned to run a programme on Mr Lowassa�s two-year tenure as Prime Minister. Mr Mhando could not, however, explain why the TV station had decided to air the programme detailing the former prime minister�s successes in the post he held from December 2005.
Mr Lowassa spoke during his interview with TVT about issues that transpired within the ruling party, leading to his resignation.
It was not also clear why Saturday�s interview coincided with Mr Lowassa�s trip to his constituency where he was accorded a hero�s welcome, with his motorcade having dozens of vehicles.
Mr Lowassa has been featuring prominently in a section of the local media since he resigned after he was implicated in the irregular awarding of a tender to generate emergency power to Richmond Development Company (RDC) in 2006.
The parliamentary committee that investigated the tender process concluded in its report tabled in Parliament in Dodoma earlier this month that the Prime Minister�s Office influenced the awarding of the tender to RDC, which was neither qualified nor capable of undertaking the task.
On Saturday, Mr Lowassa received a red-carpet reception in his Monduli constituency in Arusha Region before addressing a well-attended public rally during which he denied any wrongdoing in the Richmond controversy.
He insisted that he decided to resign in order to save the ruling CCM and its government from imminent collapse after being rocked by the Richmond report.
Mr Lowassa for the first time revealed that his wife, Regina, was the only person he consulted before tendering his resignation to President Jakaya Kikwete.
I asked my wife whether she was ready for my resignation�she also asked me if I was ready�nobody else knew if I was going to resign, Mr Lowassa said.
His resignation prompted President Kikwete to dissolve the Cabinet and appoint a new line-up in its place. Mr Lowassa was succeeded by Mr Mizengo Pinda, who was Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office responsible for regional administration and local governments.