Kubwajinga
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- Jan 23, 2008
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By ThisDay Reporter
23rd February 2010
THE Speaker of the National Assembly, Samuel Sitta, was at the centre of an assassination plot in Dodoma last year, it has come to light.
According to well-placed sources, the alleged attempt to eliminate Speaker Sitta (pictured) was timed for the 2009 marathon budget session stretching from June to August.
Details of the plot revealed exclusively to THISDAY suggest that it was to be carried out early in the morning, as the Speaker headed towards the parliamentary building in the designated capital to preside over the 9 am opening of the day's session.
It has emerged that a four-wheel drive vehicle with a reinforced bull-bar or grill-guard was to have been rammed at full speed straight into the Speaker's official saloon car.
An impeccable source familiar with the plot told THISDAY: "The goal was to make it look like an accident...the would-be assassins were convinced that the Speaker wouldn't have survived such a crash the way they had planned it.
"The plan was for a 4x4 truck to hit the Speaker's car on the side where the Speaker himself was seated, to ensure maximum effect."
The unknown individuals behind the plot are reported to have carried out a thorough reconnaissance of the Speaker's movements in preparation for a possible hit.
"They knew the exact route used by Speaker Sitta's driver from his house to the Bunge grounds in the morning, and had even picked a spot where the assassination attempt would have taken place," said the source.
He added: "A thorough reconnaissance was conducted by those behind the plot, apparently through visual observation and other detection methods. They had all the information necessary for an attempt on the Speaker's life."
The sources quote witnesses as saying a group of about four men was overheard during the budget session discussing plans for the assassination attempt, especially how to make it look like an accident.
It is said that afterwards, two members of the group left the meeting point in a registered taxi, with one of them driving the vehicle.
It is understood that the office of the Dodoma regional police commander was tipped by a witness about what was going down.
Sources say a 'Good Samaritan' volunteered information to the police in Dodoma about the assassination plot, and also provided the registration number of the vehicle used by the potential assassins.
However, none of the four would-be assassins has been identified todate.
When asked by THISDAY if the police had opened an investigation into the matter, Dodoma regional police commander Zelothe Stephen would neither confirm nor deny the reports.
"This is a very sensitive matter. Even if it were true, I could not discuss it with you over the telephone," RPC Zelothe stated by phone from Dodoma.
Sitta himself was yesterday not immediately available to comment on the reports of an alleged assassination plot targeting him. It is unclear if he was ever aware of it.
However, in July 2009 – around the same time that the alleged assassination plot was being hatched in Dodoma – the Speaker made a public call to the authorities to tighten his personal security detail, stating openly that he feared for his life.
In a surprise announcement in parliament, he told Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda that he felt his life could be in danger.
The incident occurred at the height of parliamentary debate on the Richmond power generation scandal.
Some members of the parliamentary probe team investigating the Richmond corruption scandal have also declared in parliament at one time or another that they had received death threats from unknown people.
The Richmond scandal led to the resignation of the then prime minister, Edward Lowassa, and two other cabinet ministers - Nazir Karamagi and Dr Ibrahim Msabaha - in 2008.
Igunga MP and prominent business tycoon Rostam Aziz was also heavily implicated in the scandal.
23rd February 2010
THE Speaker of the National Assembly, Samuel Sitta, was at the centre of an assassination plot in Dodoma last year, it has come to light.
According to well-placed sources, the alleged attempt to eliminate Speaker Sitta (pictured) was timed for the 2009 marathon budget session stretching from June to August.
Details of the plot revealed exclusively to THISDAY suggest that it was to be carried out early in the morning, as the Speaker headed towards the parliamentary building in the designated capital to preside over the 9 am opening of the day's session.
It has emerged that a four-wheel drive vehicle with a reinforced bull-bar or grill-guard was to have been rammed at full speed straight into the Speaker's official saloon car.
An impeccable source familiar with the plot told THISDAY: "The goal was to make it look like an accident...the would-be assassins were convinced that the Speaker wouldn't have survived such a crash the way they had planned it.
"The plan was for a 4x4 truck to hit the Speaker's car on the side where the Speaker himself was seated, to ensure maximum effect."
The unknown individuals behind the plot are reported to have carried out a thorough reconnaissance of the Speaker's movements in preparation for a possible hit.
"They knew the exact route used by Speaker Sitta's driver from his house to the Bunge grounds in the morning, and had even picked a spot where the assassination attempt would have taken place," said the source.
He added: "A thorough reconnaissance was conducted by those behind the plot, apparently through visual observation and other detection methods. They had all the information necessary for an attempt on the Speaker's life."
The sources quote witnesses as saying a group of about four men was overheard during the budget session discussing plans for the assassination attempt, especially how to make it look like an accident.
It is said that afterwards, two members of the group left the meeting point in a registered taxi, with one of them driving the vehicle.
It is understood that the office of the Dodoma regional police commander was tipped by a witness about what was going down.
Sources say a 'Good Samaritan' volunteered information to the police in Dodoma about the assassination plot, and also provided the registration number of the vehicle used by the potential assassins.
However, none of the four would-be assassins has been identified todate.
When asked by THISDAY if the police had opened an investigation into the matter, Dodoma regional police commander Zelothe Stephen would neither confirm nor deny the reports.
"This is a very sensitive matter. Even if it were true, I could not discuss it with you over the telephone," RPC Zelothe stated by phone from Dodoma.
Sitta himself was yesterday not immediately available to comment on the reports of an alleged assassination plot targeting him. It is unclear if he was ever aware of it.
However, in July 2009 – around the same time that the alleged assassination plot was being hatched in Dodoma – the Speaker made a public call to the authorities to tighten his personal security detail, stating openly that he feared for his life.
In a surprise announcement in parliament, he told Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda that he felt his life could be in danger.
The incident occurred at the height of parliamentary debate on the Richmond power generation scandal.
Some members of the parliamentary probe team investigating the Richmond corruption scandal have also declared in parliament at one time or another that they had received death threats from unknown people.
The Richmond scandal led to the resignation of the then prime minister, Edward Lowassa, and two other cabinet ministers - Nazir Karamagi and Dr Ibrahim Msabaha - in 2008.
Igunga MP and prominent business tycoon Rostam Aziz was also heavily implicated in the scandal.
