Swahiba wa Kikwete ahusishwa na rada
Anamiliki akaunti Uingeleza
Hosea adaiwa kuvujisha siri
Na Saed Kunbenea
Mteule na swahiba wa Rais Jakaya Kikwete amehusishw an kashfa ya ununuzi wa rada inayochunguzwa na makachero wa Uingereza.
Ni Dk. Idrisa Rashidi, Mkurugenzi Mtendaji wa Shirika la Umeme nchini (Tanesco ) ambaye wakati wa machakato wa ununuzi wa rada alikuwa Gavana wa Benki Kuu (BoT).
Kwa mujibu wa taarifa za Shirika la Uchunguzi wa Makosa ya Jinai - Serious Fraud Office (SFO) la Uingereza, Dk. Rashidi in mmoja wa watuhumiwa wa ufisadi katika ununuzi wa rada iliyogharimu kiasi cha sh. 40 bilioni.
SFO inachunguza ununuzi wa rada uliofanywa na serikali ya Tanzania kutoka kampuni ya BAE System-PLC ya nchini Uingereza.
Shirika hilo linadai kuwa bei ya rada ilikuwa kubwa kuliko thamani yake na kwamba BAE itakuwa ililipa mawakala kiasi kikubwa cha fedha "kukainisha" baadhi ya viongozi wa serikali ili wakubali bei hiyo.
Dk. Rashidi aliteuliwa na Rais Kikwete Novemba 2006 kuwa Mkurugenzi Mtendaji wa Tanesco Mwaka mmoja baadaye, Dk. Rashid aliandika barua ya kujiuzulu lakini rais alimkatalia kujiuzulu.
Uamuzi wa Dk. Rashidi kujiuzulu ulitokana na kile alichoita kuamrishwa na Edward Lowasa, aliyekuwa waziri mkuu, kurudisha umeme aliokuwa ameamua ukatwe, katika kiwand cha Tanga Cement, jambo ambalo Dk. Rashidi alilichukulia kuwa uingiliaji wa kazi na udhalilishaji.
Hata hivyo , siku mbili baada ya Dk. Rashidi kuandika barua ya kujiuzulu, taarifa kutoka serikalini zilisema, Rais Kikwete aliingilia kati na kukataa barua ya Dk. Rashidi ya kujiuzulu.
Badala yake, rais alisema yeyote anayetumia umeme bila kulipa ni mwizi wa umeme, hata kama mutumiaji ni ikulu au jeshi. Alisema anayetumia nishati hiyo sharti alipe na kama hakulipa, aswagwe mahakamani.
Taarifa za kuaminika zinasema Dk. Rashidi anamiliki kampuni yenye akaunti nchini Uingereza na kwamba kampuni yake ilimegewa. Paundi 600,000 za Uingereza (sawa na Sh. 1.32 billion) kutoka akaunti ya kampuni ya Andrew Chenge ambaye tayari anachunguzwa na SFO.
Taarifa za kampuni ya Siemens Plessey System (SPS) zinasema, Dk. Rashidi anatajwa kuwa maratibu mkuu wa "taarifa zote kutoka serikali na BoT." SPS ndio walihusika kufanya majadiliano ya awali ya ununuzi wa rada hiyo kwa niaba ya Serikali, chini ya ofisa wake aliyetajwa kuwa ni jonathan Joseph Horne.
MwanaHALISI imeona dokezo la Horne lililoeleza majukumu ya Dk. Rashidi ambalo lilisomeka kwa Kiingereza, Dk. Rashidi will from now on act as cooridnating point for collecting all documents (etc) from all parties in the Government of Tanzania and Bank of Tanzania.
Mwaka 1992 hadi 1998, Dk. Rashidi alikuwa Gavana wa BoT. Ni wakati alipewa jukumu la kuwa " kiungo muhimu kwa wadau wote ndani ya serikali na BoT," kama maelezo ya Kiingereza hapo juu yanavyoeleza.
Akaunti ya Chenge inayochunguzwa iko katika tawi la benki ya Barclays, katika kisiwa cha Jersey wakati ile ya Dk. Rashidi, imo Royal Bank of Scotland International katika kisiwa hicho hicho.
Kampuni ya Chenge imefahamika kuwa hi Fronton Investment Ltd na ile ya Dk. Rashidi imetajwa kuwa ni Langley Investment Ltd.
Uhamishaji wa fedha umerekodiwa kufanyika 20 September, 1999.
SFO inadai kuwa BAE System PLC, kampuni ya Uingereza inayotengeneza vifaa vya kijeshi, ilitoa asilimia 30 ya bei ya mauzo kwa wakala wake kwa shabaha ya, miongoni mwake, kuhonga maofisa wa serikali nchini.
Hadi kukamilika kwa mradi huo, Tanzania ilikuwa inatumia mafanyabiashara raia wa Tanzania mwenye asili ya ya Kiasia, Shailesh Pragji Vithlani badal ya SPS waloianzisha mchakato.
Ingawa mchakato wa ununuzi wa rada ulianza mwaka 1992, kufuatana na rekodi za SFO, mkataba ulikamilika mwaka 1999. Wakati huo Chenge alikuwa Mwanasheria Mkuu wa Serikali.
MwanaHALISI limefahamishwa kuwa Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa TAKUKURU, Dk. Edward Hoseah alisaliti serikali kwa kuvujisha taarifa kwa Chenge na Dk. Rashidi.
Imefahamika kwamba taarifa za SFO kutaka kuwahoji Chenge na Rashidi kwa pamoja zilivujishwa na Hoseah na kuwezesha watuhumiwa kukutana. Hiyo ilikuwa baada ya mawasiliano kati ya SFO na mwanasheria Mkuu wa serikali Johson Mwanyika ya 31 March Mwaka huu.
Ni mkakati huo wa chenge na Dk. Rashidi unaodaiwa kuzaa maelezo kwa makachero wa SFO kuwa fedha ambazo Dk. Rashidi alipokea kutoka kwa Chenge zilikuwa "mkopo wa kuendeleza biashara yake ya samani (fenicha)."
Mawasiliano kati ya SFO na Mwanyika kuhusu kuwahoji Dk. Rashidi na Chenge, yalionyesha pia kuwa yatahusisha mahojiano na Shailesha Pragji Vithlani, Tanil Kurmar Chandulal Somaiya, BAE System ya London, Michael Peter Rouse, Sir Richard Harry Evans, Michael John Turner na Julia Aldredge.
Chenge alihojiwa na SFO mapema mwaka huu baada ya akaunti yake iliyoko Jersey kukutwa na fedha nyingi. kufuatia upekuzi ofisini na nyumbani kwake na kuchukua nyaraka kadhaa, Chenge alilazimika kujiuzulu nafasi ya Waziri wa Miundombinu ili kupisha uchunguzi.
Taarifa nyingine zimesema hadi 13 Septemba 2006, akaunti ya Chenge ya kampuni ya Fronton Investment Ltd, inayomilikiwa na Chenge na mkewe, ilikuwa paundi za uingereza 804,000/= (sawa na Sh. 1.7 bilion).
Kwa mazingira ya sasa, ama Dk. Rashidi ambaye alikuwa gavana wa BoT. afuate nyayo za Chenge na kujiuzulu au asubiri uamuzi wa rais ambao hauwezi kuwa tofauti na ule aliochukua dhidi ya Daudi Ballali.
N wananchi kuwakumbatia mafisadi
Tanzania: Legal opinion on radar deal led to Chenges fall
Monday, 28 April 2008
By Daniel Said
EA BUSINESS WEEK
DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - A legal opinion by the Tanzania Attorney Generals Chambers on the purchase of a 28 million British pounds air defence radar system from BAE Systems in 2001 is central to the scandal that has led to the resignation of the former Attorney General.
Mr. Andrew Chenge, who resigned from government last week, is a former Attorney General and had been promoted to cabinet to head the ministry for infrastructure development.
The multi-million pound sterling scandal is under both local and international scrutiny.
Chenge was Tanzanias Attorney General when the radar deal was sealed.
East African Business Week has learnt that at the time the deal was negotiated, Tanzania had no money so it had to look for other sources to finance the project.
Reliable sources say the Tanzania government sought a legal opinion about the deal at which point the Attorney General office advised to continue with the project and above all advised the government to borrow money from a British bank, Barclays.
According to a source within the ministry of legal and constitutional affairs, that legal opinion was by itself illegal because such a commercial debt was uncalled for as the World Bank and the International Civil Aviation Organisation had said the purchase was unnecessary and overpriced.
He said the Attorney Generals Chambers advised the government to borrow a huge amount of money well knowing that the price was on the higher side. Apart from an inflated price, Tanzania being a HIPC country was not supposed to enter such a debt burden with a two-digit interest rate, he said.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has shown concern after discovering that such a legal opinion was itself illegal, and could have been pushed by personal interests because the deal was wildly expensive, he said.
Although reports that Chenge is under investigations came out recently, East African Business Week has established that the SFO started a follow up on the matter three years ago.
The radar was manufactured by Siemens Plessey, which then had become a BAE subsidiary.
The local Siemens agent then negotiated the sale with the Tanzanian defence ministry.
The radar deal has a long history. It all started in 1992 during President Ali Hassan Mwinyi when negotiators had put the price tag at 11o million pound sterling.
The deal was blocked on reasons that it was unaffordable and the first Tanzanian President, Julius Nyerere played a great role in discouraging it. However, when Nyerere died in 1999, the scheme was resurrected, with a smaller phase to be followed by the rest but both the World Bank and the International Civil Aviation Organisation were against the deal.
In the UK, the then Development Secretary, Ms. Clare Short, temporarily blocked aid payments in protest and said openly that she suspected corruption.
It stank and was always obvious that this useless project was corrupt, she was quoted as saying.
Short also made an attempt to prevent the sale by arguing that a British arms export license be withheld but was overruled in cabinet by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. Britains Foreign Secretary then, Mr. Robin Cook and current prime minister Gordon Brown were also against the deal.
The reasons put forward by both Short and Cook were that because Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, there were no substantive reasons to enter into such an expensive deal.
Chenge, resigned on April 20, 2008 after the Guardian newspaper of the UK said the minister has stashed away $1 million in an offshore account and that the team investigating the sale of the military radar to Tanzania was tracing the account.
Also discovered, was a $ 500,000 transaction shown to have been made (from Chenges offshore account) to one of the senior officers of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco). Two weeks ago SFO conducted an in-depth search at both Chenges offices and residence in Dar es Salaam.
Chenge is now the fourth minister to resign in a period of two months.
Edward Lowassa (Prime Minister), Nazir Karamagi (Minister for Minerals and Energy) and Ibrahim Msabaha (EastAfrican Cooperation) resigned in February after they were implicated in the irregular awarding of a multi-billion shilling tender to generate emergency electricity in 2006.
The tender was awarded to a shadowy American company, Richmond.
Mnyonge mnyongeni, haki yake mpeni. Hosea katika hili hakutoa siri, bali utaratibu wa wenzetu hata huko kwao ni kuwajulisha wahusika kwamba wanataka kuwapekua na kuwahoji na mwenyeji wa wageni hao toka SFO ni ofisi ya Hosea (si Hosea binafsi) ambayo ililazimika kufanya mawasiliano na Chenge na Dk. Rashid. Chenge wakati huo alikuwa katika ziara ya Rais lakini aliarifiwa na rais alijulishwa na wote (Chenge na JK) wakaridhia kuendelea kwa uchunguzi huo. Sasa kusema Hosea alitoa siri, sijui ni siri gani. Hose tuendelee kumuuliza ama kumtaka ajisahihishe kuhusu suala la Richmond na kwa ukimya huu wa serikali, ina maana alipata baraka zote za juu katika kutoa taarifa ile ya Richmond, na ndio maana hata JK atajiona mkosefu kama atamtimua Hosea kwa kosa la Richmond, ambalo kwa nafasi ya PCB (si PCCB) walikua hawana meno kama ilivyo sasa PCCB. Makosa yametoka nadhani matano (PCB Act) hadi 24 (PCCCB Act), na hivyo sasa tutaipima taasisi hiyo na sheria mpya
Mnyonge mnyongeni, haki yake mpeni. Hosea katika hili hakutoa siri, bali utaratibu wa wenzetu hata huko kwao ni kuwajulisha wahusika kwamba wanataka kuwapekua na kuwahoji na mwenyeji wa wageni hao toka SFO ni ofisi ya Hosea (si Hosea binafsi) ambayo ililazimika kufanya mawasiliano na Chenge na Dk. Rashid. Chenge wakati huo alikuwa katika ziara ya Rais lakini aliarifiwa na rais alijulishwa na wote (Chenge na JK) wakaridhia kuendelea kwa uchunguzi huo. Sasa kusema Hosea alitoa siri, sijui ni siri gani. Hose tuendelee kumuuliza ama kumtaka ajisahihishe kuhusu suala la Richmond na kwa ukimya huu wa serikali, ina maana alipata baraka zote za juu katika kutoa taarifa ile ya Richmond, na ndio maana hata JK atajiona mkosefu kama atamtimua Hosea kwa kosa la Richmond, ambalo kwa nafasi ya PCB (si PCCB) walikua hawana meno kama ilivyo sasa PCCB. Makosa yametoka nadhani matano (PCB Act) hadi 24 (PCCCB Act), na hivyo sasa tutaipima taasisi hiyo na sheria mpya
Nchi yetu imekwisha, mimi ni muda mrefu sasa nimekuwa nikiamini, tatizo la Tanzania ni hawa wenzetu walioko kwenye vyeo vya kati serikalini na kwenye mashirika.
Vita ni kubwa kuliko tunavyodhani, labda aje kiongozi mwingine ambaye ataweza kuwang'oa wote.
Mkuu Halisi, toka lini mtuhumiwa anaambiwa kuna watu wanakuja kukupekua? Kama Hoasea na JK walitoa siri, ina maana na wao ni wahusika kwenye kuihujumu nchi yetu.
Labda ifike siku mtu atwangwe risasi, ndio hawa jamaa watakoma kutuibia.
Inasikitisha sana wakurugenzi wanaolipwa mishahara ya zaidi ya 20M kwa mwezi bado wanaingia kwenye wizi wa kijinga hivyo. 20M kwa Tanzania unaweza kuanza kuanzisha biashara yoyote na baadaye ukawa bilionea kwa biashara halali kabisa, kwanini uingie kwenye wizi? Shame on them, inabidi na yeye aende na maji.
Fisadi, fisadi, fisadi,
Wa Tz Sasa tuseme hapana kwa hawa mafisadi. kwani wana nini? Elimu? nani asiyekuwa na hiyo elimu? tunataka uadilifu na kujali wanyonge sio u-Dk wala U-Professor. Wangefisadi vihiyo tungesema hawana elimu sasa mafisadi wakubwa ni ma-Dk na Maprofessor.
Hicho chama kinachowakingia kifua, kipigwe chini. Hao wanaobweka kuwa chama kilichopo ni safi 'tuwapime kwa mizani yetu na ufahamu wetu' je ni kwa nini wanatetea uozo?
Hahahah Siku zao zinahesabika
Tana wameshindwa hata kwenda 'kubalance' stori kwa mtuhumiwa. Si haki na ni kinyume na maadili ya uandishi
Yupo mmoja tu! Johnson Mwanyika........ aliwapa challenge waandishi wa habari na wameshindwa kumpata na dosari.
Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud -- Willie Stark in All the King's Men
This says more about the press in Tanzania than Mr. Mwanyika's integrity.
Kumbuka,
Tangu lini tuna waandishi wa habari Tanzania?
Swahiba wa Kikwete ahusishwa na rada
Dk. Rashidi aliteuliwa na Rais Kikwete Novemba 2006 kuwa Mkurugenzi Mtendaji wa Tanesco Mwaka mmoja baadaye, Dk. Rashid aliandika barua ya kujiuzulu lakini rais alimkatalia kujiuzulu
Ingawa mchakato wa ununuzi wa rada ulianza mwaka 1992, kufuatana na rekodi za SFO, mkataba ulikamilika mwaka 1999. Wakati huo Chenge alikuwa Mwanasheria Mkuu wa Serikali
Hey,wakuu JF zingatieni muda haswa dhambi ya ununuzi wa radar ilipoanzia,kama sikosei ni mwaka ule ambao MZEE WA RUKSA akiwa mbioni kuachia ngazi.Si jambo la busara hata punje kumsakama Mr.Clean,JMK na wenzake bila kumjadili na huyu mzee,ametusababishia matatizo mengi sana hapa Tz hadi leo hii ni vigumu kuyapatia ufumbuzi.
Au vipi?
Nakubali kuwa hata wananchi wanamchango wao katika hili. lakini usisahau kuwa political parties are the driving forces behind politics. Nchi yetu haina watu wenye mwamko. Namaanisha kuwa wananchi wengi ni "apolitica" na vyama vya siasa havijafanya kazi ya kutosha kuwafahamisha maovu wanayotendewa na CCM na wao kuja na sera mbadala ambazo zinaeleweka. If you ask me, bado tuko katika mfumo wa chama kimoja "defacto" kwani vyama vya upinzani bado ni vichanga. Hope umeelewa argument yangu.