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[TD="class: contentheading, width: 100%"]Sitta: Punish those behind power crisis [/TD]
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[TD="class: createdate"]Sunday, 17 July 2011 11:10 [/TD]
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By Brandy Nelson and Hawa Mathias
The Citizen Correspondents
Mbeya.
Cabinet minister Samuel Sitta said yesterday that people who have plunged the country into the current power crisis must bear full responsibility for their actions.Its not enough to apologise to Tanzanians for the suffering they are going through
it must be said that all those who caused this misery must be held responsible, he told a forum organised by CCM members from universities in Mbeya Region.
Mr Sitta, who is also East African Cooperation minister and former National Assembly Speaker, said Tanzania was blessed with abundant resources that could be used to generate power for domestic consumption and export. It is due to sheer greed that the nation is now in darkness, he said without mentioning names.
The Urambo East MP later addressed a big rally at Luanda Nzovwe grounds in Mbeya. Others present at the two functions included deputy ministers Harrison Mwakyembe (Works) and Lazaro Nyalandu (Industry and Trade); MPs Christopher ole Sendeka (Simanjiro), David Mwakyusa (Rungwe East), Godfrey Zambi (Mbozi East) and Dickson Lilufi (Mbarali) and Special Seats parliamentarians Mary Mwanjelwa and Hilda Ngoye.
We will not let this one pass unchallenged, and we promise you that we will do all it takes to restore the integrity this country was known for during the time of Mwalimu Nyerere, Mr Sitta said, adding that the country was under siege from wealthy, corrupt individuals. The ministers remarks are likely to pile the pressure on the government, which on Friday came under fierce criticism in Parliament over its handling of electricity shortages that have led to Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) cutting power for up to 12 hours daily in areas served by the national grid.
Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja is tomorrow evening expected to respond to concerns raised by MPs, some of whom have threatened not to back the ministrys budget proposals if they would not get satisfactory answers from the embattled minister. MPs, among other suggestions, have called for a national emergency plan out of the longstanding power problem. They also proposed the tabling of a supplementary budget to set aside enough funds to boost power generation, saying current government plans could not be relied on. It was during Mr Sittas tenure as Speaker that a parliamentary committee was appointed in 2007 to investigate the awarding of an emergency power supply contract to Richmond Development Company (RDC).
The team concluded in its report that there was political interference in the tender awarding process, which led to RDC, which the committee dismissed as a briefcase outfit, winning the contract worth $172 million (Sh275 billion in todays shillings).
The then Prime Minister, Mr Edward Lowassa, and Cabinet ministers Nazir Karamagi (Energy and Minerals) and Ibrahim Msabaha (East Africa Cooperation) resigned after the report linked them with the scandal. Richmonds successor, Dowans Tanzania Limited, is currently embroiled in a court tussle with Tanesco, which is disputing the Sh94 billion compensation it has been ordered to pay Dowans for breach of contract.
The firm, which has since been sold to Symbion Power of the US, is associated with politician-cum-businessman Rostam Aziz, who last Thursday resigned from Parliament and CCMs National Executive Committee, accusing some senior officials of the ruling party of harbouring a vendetta against him.
Speakers at yesterdays rally in Mbeya said CCM would enhance its reputation by serving the people, and not embracing those whose actions were turning members against the party. CCM Publicity and Ideology Secretary Nape Nnauye and a host of local party leaders attended the rally said to be the first of several public meetings meant to enable the party to win back the support it has lost as a result of its being associated with grand corruption.
Mr Sitta said the rich owned CCM, and they had been using their wealth to frustrate fellow party members, adding that the individuals unsuccessfully campaigned for his expulsion from the party in 2009. Its not easy for them to succeed
we have now decided to fight them to the end.
There are some hungry members who are being used to undermine us, but we will use our brains to defeat them, he said amid cheers.Mr ole Sendeka urged CCM members to remain united and clamour for the expulsion of those who had caused divisions in the party by involving themselves in grand corruption. He chided the Opposition, saying it was not the better option.
Mr Nnauye said the move to cleanse the party of corrupt elements was not his decision as those targeted in the purge wanted CCM members and Tanzanians in general to believe.
He said it was CCMs policy to act against public servants and party officials who failed to deliver. Let me warn government officials who cannot deliver that we will kick them out as well, he declared.
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