Announcing the suspension, Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue said the president made the decision yesterday after TRA was involved in the loss of 349 containers worth Sh80 billion at the port.
Commissioner General Bade has been replaced by Dr Philip Mpango. Dr. Mpango was until yesterday Executive Secretary in the President’s Office (Planning Commission).
Dr Mpango previously held positions as Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs; Personal Assistant to the President (Economic Affairs); Head of the President’s Economic Advisory Unit, and as a Senior Economist for the World Bank.
Before Chief Secretary Sefue announced suspension of the TRA boss, Prime Minister Majaliwa Kassim Majaliwa had made an unannounced tour of the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) in the morning where he held a meeting with TRA staff before suspending five revenue officers, including Director of Customs and Excise Duty Tiagi Masamaki and an Assistant Manager at Customs Service Centre Habib Mponezya.
Prime Minister Majaliwa ordered Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ernest Mangu and the TRA management to ensure Masamaki and Mponezya were apprehended and their travel documents withheld.
Prime Minister Majaliwa ordered Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ernest Mangu and the TRA management to ensure Masamaki and Mponezya were apprehended and their travel documents withheld.
He also ordered immediate audit of their property to assess if they matched their income accrued during the period they have been in service. Others who were suspended are Head of the ICT Unit Haruni Mpande; Hamisi Ali Omari, whose department was not mentioned, and Inland Container Depots in Charge Eliachi Mrema.
Premier Majaliwa ordered the trio to be held in police custody until investigation was completed.
The prime minister also ordered immediate search for and recovery of all the containers lost, including recovery of the money lost.
According to an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, the premier also suspended three other Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) staff. The premier ordered the three TPA staff, namely Anangisye Mtafya, Nsajigwa Mwandengele and Robert Nyoni, to be relocated from Dar es Salaam to up-country regions.
Meanwhile, the prime minister has ordered Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary, Dr. Servacius Likwelile, who was present at the meeting, to ensure that he sent e-government agency experts to conduct an audit in the TRA and TPA systems to find out how the theft occurred. “I want the audit to be done as soon as possible. Find out the ways used as theft loopholes from the port to ICDs,” he said, adding:
“I want the whereabouts of those containers traced and the money recovered and returned to the government.”
The premier’s impromptu meeting was also attended by Inspector General of Police Ernest Mangu; Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Florens Turuka; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport Dr. Shaaban Mwinjaka; Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commissioner Suleima Kova; TPA Director General Awadh Masawe and other TRA and TPA management officials.
Earlier, responding to some questions posed by the prime minister, TRA Commissioner General Rished Bade confirmed the loss of the containers, normally done when containers are being transferred from the port to ICDs, particularly the one located at Ubungo.
Bade acknowledged that they conducted an inspection in one of the ICDs and established that 54 containers had disappeared.
“After further inspection we discovered that the number of lost containers was actually 327. We are still working on the issue in collaboration with the country’s anti-corruption body (PCCB).The ICD owner has been ordered to pay a fine amounting to Sh.12.6 billion and has already paid Sh2.4 billion,” he explained.
When asked by the prime minister if he has the list of the names of the staff implicated in the scam, Bade agreed to have it, although not there.
Then the Prime Minister showed him the list of 349 containers with all associated information including the number of vehicles used to transport the containers from the port to ICDs. Upon seeing the list, Bade confirmed the list was indeed correct.
“If we continue operating this way we shall never make any progress, unless some people are relieved of their duties,” he said, going straight to mentioning the names of staff who were to be immediately suspended.
Four of the suspended staff have already been interrogated by the police, including Tiagi Masamaki. The whereabouts of one official on the prime minister’s list were yet to be known.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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