BAK
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 11, 2007
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EDITORIAL: Radar deal: Taxpayers demand an explanation
EDITOR
THIS DAY
DAR ES SALAAM
DEMOCRACY is a two-faced phenomenon. The first facet of this universally accepted principle allows leaders to be elected by the electorate; while the other facet demands honesty, selflessness and accountability of the leaders to the electorate.
Thus for a country to be called a true democracy, the two facets must not only be working, but must also be seen to be effectively working. It is for this reason therefore, in a true democracy, once a leader is seriously tainted, he must step down immediately to allow an independent investigation to proceed.
We are highlighting this aspect to give a wake up call to our leaders from the national to village levels.
We want to say that Tanzanian taxpayers demand a thorough explanation on the recent revelations that a senior Cabinet minister in the incumbent administration has a huge fortune stashed away in some foreign bank accounts.
What is most tantalizing about these allegations is the fact that the minister has not denied owning the equivalent of billions of dollars in offshore bank accounts. The question that still begs an answer is how a public official in a poor country like Tanzania has been able to stash away a huge fortune with his government salary!
It doesnt take a rocket scientist to deduce that the salary and remunerations of the politician could not have enabled him to amass such a hefty fortune.
More importantly, did this public official declare his offshore accounts to the Ethics Secretariat?
It is for this reason that we call on the government to initiate a thorough investigation to unearth other public leaders who have stashed away huge fortunes in foreign countries.
For we very much know that the law of the land is clear on property declaration on the part of leaders: If you hide or under-declare your wealth, you have simply broken the law and must be taken to task.
Our law enforcement agencies must investigate how some public leaders accumulate such huge fortunes. If their fortunes were indeed legally accumulated, why are they afraid of banking them at home?
EDITOR
THIS DAY
DAR ES SALAAM
DEMOCRACY is a two-faced phenomenon. The first facet of this universally accepted principle allows leaders to be elected by the electorate; while the other facet demands honesty, selflessness and accountability of the leaders to the electorate.
Thus for a country to be called a true democracy, the two facets must not only be working, but must also be seen to be effectively working. It is for this reason therefore, in a true democracy, once a leader is seriously tainted, he must step down immediately to allow an independent investigation to proceed.
We are highlighting this aspect to give a wake up call to our leaders from the national to village levels.
We want to say that Tanzanian taxpayers demand a thorough explanation on the recent revelations that a senior Cabinet minister in the incumbent administration has a huge fortune stashed away in some foreign bank accounts.
What is most tantalizing about these allegations is the fact that the minister has not denied owning the equivalent of billions of dollars in offshore bank accounts. The question that still begs an answer is how a public official in a poor country like Tanzania has been able to stash away a huge fortune with his government salary!
It doesnt take a rocket scientist to deduce that the salary and remunerations of the politician could not have enabled him to amass such a hefty fortune.
More importantly, did this public official declare his offshore accounts to the Ethics Secretariat?
It is for this reason that we call on the government to initiate a thorough investigation to unearth other public leaders who have stashed away huge fortunes in foreign countries.
For we very much know that the law of the land is clear on property declaration on the part of leaders: If you hide or under-declare your wealth, you have simply broken the law and must be taken to task.
Our law enforcement agencies must investigate how some public leaders accumulate such huge fortunes. If their fortunes were indeed legally accumulated, why are they afraid of banking them at home?