Tibaijuka's fate to be decided by JK, again
In the surprising turn of events, soon after the Ethics Secretariat Chairman, Retired Judge Hamisi Msumi revoked the High Court stop order that was submitted by Chenge on Wednesday, the MP submitted the appeal again barring the secretariat from proceeding with the session.
The development came after revocation of the High Court stop order and subsequent request by MP Chenge for the court to allow him to appeal its decision with the High Court.“Allow me to go to the High Court to file an appeal on this matter because I think your team has not gone through the court’s order carefully,” Chenge requested.
“Let him go because he is not satisfied with the judgment,” said Judge Msami and ordered the secretariat to wait for High Court ruling.
“The High Court has superior powers to that of the secretariat…we cannot proceed with the questioning until the ruling is out,” said the retired Judge.
“Let us wait…if the appeal is accepted, Chenge will not be questioned,” he declared.
Earlier, Judge Msumi had said the High Court’s order cannot stop the secretariat from questioning the former Attorney General.
As for the Former Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development Anna Tibaijuka, the Ethics Secretariat concluded that they will review all presented submissions for and against her case and send recommendations to President Jakaya Kikwete for final judgment.
Nonetheless, in her defense, Professor Tibaijuka denied all allegations levied against her purporting that she received 1.6bn/- from VIP Engineering and Marketing owned by James Rugemarila from Mkombozi Bank.
She was represented by Dr Rugemarila Ishara who asked the secretariat to differentiate between a gift and contribution and queried as whether there is a specific law denying a civil servant from contributing to civil society organisations.
In the unfolding of the saga, the accused former minister has maintained that the money given to her was for the Barbro Johansson Model Girls' Secondary School in Dar es Salaam and to which she is the founding trustee.
To that, Kipacha responded that it is against the ethics for a civil servant to receive or ask for any contribution on behalf of a third party.
“From our investigations, we found that Tibaijuka wrote a letter to James Rugemarila asking for the contribution…this is against the laws that govern civil servants,” Kipacha said.
In her own defense, Tibaijuka denied the accusation saying that the money received was not meant for her but for the school and that Rugemarila is the one who asked her to open an account at the Mkombozi bank despite the fact that she had already given him the school’s account number.
“I followed his instructions and immediately opened an account where I found almost 1.6bn/- deposited,” she said.
She went on to explain that the subsequent withdrawal of the money was not for her personal use rather to settle a debt to Mkono bank which the school owed 2bn/- which they borrowed for constructing of the school’s infrastructures.
According to her, the money paid to Mkono bank was 1.5bn/- and the other 275m/- remained in the school’s account.
“I want to know the full meaning of ethics because it bugles my mind as to what exactly I have done wrong,” she said and maintained that “…I am a very simple person who struggles on behalf of others…I have nothing to hide from the secretariat.”
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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