Top Chadema officials off to Europe on 10-day tour

The opposition Chadema will from today begin a ten-day tour of European countries where among other things, will hold talks with top officials of the bloc’s most influential organs, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. The party says it has been invited by the European Union parliament to meet its top leaders and it will also go to Germany where its delegation will attend the annual general meeting of the country’s ruling party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and will hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel. During the talks, Chadema says, it will deliver four agendas to let EU know about Tanzania. The first will be on how donor funds are being embezzled including the recent escrow saga.

      Secondly, Chadema says it will tell the EU Parliament how the ruling party wound up the constitution making process to protect its own interests without involving other parties despite knowing it is about the fate of all Tanzanians. Chadema deputy secretary for Zanzibar Salum Mwalimu told reporters during a press conference yesterday that violation of human rights and press freedom are among the party’s agendas when they meet the EU officials. “We will openly tell them how the money they send to Tanzania is being misused by government officials and also how journalists are killed in front of senior police officers,” he said. He said the tour will be led by the party’s deputy chairperson for Mainland Prof Abdallah Safari and later by national chairman Freeman Mbowe in Germany.

The Chadema delegation will consist of the party’s youth wing (Bavicha) Mr Patrobas Katambi, secretary for the party’s women wing Ms Grace Tendega and Mr John Mrema. “We want to be open and let the people who support us financially understand that the money they send here to support Tanzanians just ends up in few people’s pockets while the targeted groups keep on suffering,” he said. The EU and its member States together are the largest donors to Tanzania. Between 2002 and 2008, European Commission’s support to Tanzania was financed through the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) where a total of € 345 million was committed to Tanzania in support of its Poverty Reduction Strategy.

The Citizen