Concerns surface as State House moves to probe Tegeta escrow account saga reports

BY DAVID KISANGA

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Senior Lecturer of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr Benson Bana

Barely a day after the State House said it is investigating the report on the Tegeta escrow account saga, concerns have surfaced that probing the already thoroughly investigated report is a misuse of funds and disrespectful to the parliament and other organs that worked on the scandal previously.

The scandal involved a dubious withdrawal of 320bn/- from the Bank of Tanzania’s (BOT) Tegeta escrow account, an amount which ended up in individuals’ accounts illegally.

Basically, those interviewed by this paper were of the view that since the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Controller and Auditor General (CAG), the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) along with the parliament have already done the job well hence the role of the government is to take actions against those implicated as per the resolutions reached in the national assembly.
Senior Lecturer of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr Benson Bana said the President needs ample time to go through the report before making a decision, insisting for the need to interrogate the suspects to ensure justice is served.

“It is ok to investigate the matter because better answers could be obtained,” he said.

For his part, Chairman of the Tanzania Constitution Forum, Deus Kibamba was wondering as to why the State House would probe the issue once more while other organs have already conducted a thorough investigation.

He called it ‘a misuse of public funds’, insisting that at this stage the government was supposed to take actions, arguing that otherwise the State House could have handled the investigation as soon as the escrow account was opened at the central bank.

“This is another surprise from the government, it is unfortunate that it doesn’t trust its own institutions and even the parliament,” said Kibamba.

He further noted that the State House is an executive organ and cannot conduct investigation in big scandals like the Tegeta escrow account. He was concerned that the investigation by the State House could be a disguise to deliberately clean some officials implicated in the scandal.

President of the Tanganyika Lawyers Society (TLS), Francis Stolla said according to the Presidential Affairs Act, the President can commission any committee within State House to investigate any matter even after receiving parliament’s recommendations.

He said there is nothing wrong with the State House’s decision to conduct more investigation because the President needs to satisfy himself before taking any further actions.

Lazaro Kipendi, a resident of Kimara in Kinondoni district said Tanzanians are eagerly waiting for the President to act on the resolutions.

He said people are satisfied with the report by CAG, TRA and PAC hence any contradictory recommendation by the State House will be considered a disguise to clean some government officials who in one way or another have benefited from the misappropriation of the funds.

Prof Mwesiga Baregu of St Augustine University was also of the opinion that what was agreed upon in the parliament should be final.

“Everything has been done…we are now waiting for the President to take measures,” said Prof Baregu, questioning why would the President hesitate to take actions.

He too was concerned that the move could be a way of hiding the truth. He said conducting another fresh investigation is disrespect to the parliament.

He cautioned the government on how it handles matters of national interest, saying handling things in such a manner could cost them.
 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN