Prosecute Chenge, Ngeleja over escrow saga: activists

Chenge

Zanzibar/Dar. Activists yesterday called for the arrest and prosecution of chairpersons of parliamentary committees who were implicated in the Public Accounts Committee report on the Tegeta Escrow Account scandal. Under a coalition for human rights and good governance here in the Isles, the activists said Mr William Ngeleja, who chairs the Constitution, Legal Affairs and Governance committee; Mr Andrew Chenge, who chairs Budget Committee as well as Mr Victor Mwambalaswa, who chairs Energy and Minerals Committee should be charged over corruption. The activists were drawn from the Zanzibar Legal Services (ZLS) and Zanzibar Institute of Research and public Policies (ZIRPP).

National Assembly Operations Director, Mr John Joel, told The Citizen over the phone that Speaker Anne Makinda would only take action after hearing from those implicated. “As you know currently Parliament is in recess: only when it starts its business will the Speaker give members a chance to be heard before any actions are taken,” Mr Joel said.  Recently, Attorney General (AG) Frederick Werema resigned and President Jakaya Kikwete fired the minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Prof Anna Tibaijuka, while Energy and Minerals Permanent Secretary Eliakim Maswi was sent home to pave the way for a probe over the matter. Executive director for the ZIRPP, Mr Muhammed Yusuph Mshamba, said Mr Chenge and Ngeleja were supposed to face action, including being removed from their positions as chairmen of parliamentary committees over corruption.

“All members of Parliament who were mentioned to have benefited from the escrow account monies must face legal action according to the Constitution,” Mr Mashamba said. He said legal action should also be brought against judges who were implicated in the scandal because they violated principles of their profession. He said that such a move would serve as a lesson to others. He noted that the trend of corruption has been increasing due to failure by government leaders to keep the legacy of the first President, Julius Nyerere, who used to hate the vice and took firm actions against culprits.  For his part, the president of the ZLS, Mr Awadhi Ali Said, argued that in the escrow account scam there were issues of crime and negligence that needed those mentioned to be sent to court.

He said the scandal caused a loss to Zanzibar which missed nearly Sh40 billion after donors declared they had suspended their budgetary support pending government action against those implicated.  He wondered why the prime minister failed to resign when he had failed to handle the matter until Parliament intervened to uncover the corruption in the Tegeta escrow account.

The Citizen