Musoma Rural MP Nimrod Mkono signs a document to support a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda yesterday in Dodoma. With him is Kigoma North lawmaker Zitto Kabwe who is collecting the signatures. PHOTO | EDWIN MJWAHUZI

Dar es Salaam. Contrary to expectations that the government would announce concrete measures against eight cabinet ministers accused of corruption and embezzlement of public funds yesterday, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda issued what amounted to a political statement.

Adjourning the Parliament session in Dodoma last night, Mr Pinda quipped: “The government has taken note of suggestions made by Members of Parliament and it (the government) will take necessary measures.”

In a quick rejoinder, political analysts and politicians last night accused the prime minister of letting down Tanzanians in failing to fulfill his promise.

“I think it is high time MPs united and took government leaders to task,” said Mr Samwel Ruhuza, NCCR-Mageuzi secretary general. “MPs have remained the only hope for poor Tanzanians.”

A Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) caucus sitting in Dodoma last week backed the expulsion of the ministers after MPs from both the ruling and opposition parties called for their sacking.

On Saturday last week, the chairman of the CCM party caucus, Ms Jenista Mhagama (Peramiho-CCM), told journalists that the party had taken hard decisions to be announced by Mr Pinda.

Mr Pinda himself told journalists that he would make a statement on Monday (yesterday) —a promise that had millions of Tanzanians glued to televisions sets when the PM was adjourning Parliament last night.

Political analysts and politicians said millions of wananchi were expecting to be told what measures had been taken against ministers accused of poor performance and Mr Pinda’s speech had only unmasked CCM’s weaknesses.

University of Dar es Salaam Senior Lecturer Benson Bana said he was not surprised by the turn of events. It would be difficult for the government to give in easily if it feared that wananchi would interpret the action as a response to pressure from the MPs.

“I expected the PM to remain mum on the matter,” Dr Bana said. “It was not going to be easy for the government to take serious action against its ministers on the spot.” Dr Bana does not see the government taking serious measures any time soon. “It is my expectation that the government will not let this issue pass easily,” he added. “I hope the President will do a reshuffle in less than two months to come.”

The Civic United Front deputy secretary-general (Mainland), Mr Julius Mtatiro, said the only hope for change was the 2015 General Election. He accused CCM MPs and the government of failing to address the people’s problems and cited the PM’s speech as evidence that the government was incapable of taking serious measures against its ministers.

“I urge wananchi to think of making serious changes against this government,” said Mr Mtatiro. “The PM has disappointed us.”

The fate of the eight ministers under pressure to resign now lies in the hands of the appointing authority—President Jakaya Kikwete.The ministers targeted include Mr Mustapha Mkulo (Finance), Mr Omar Nundu (Transport), Mr William Ngeleja (Energy and Minerals), Dr Cyril Chami (Industries and Trade) and Mr George Mkuchika (Local Government).

Angry and emotional MPs who had for two days debated the reports of the Public Organisations Accounts Committee (POAC), Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Local Authorities Accounts Committee (LAAC) openly attacked government ministers, accusing them of abetting corruption and presiding over incompetence.

Opposition and CCM MPs set their traditional differences aside and joined forces to make spirited calls for the resignation of ministers they blamed for what they described as stinking rot in the government and the misery they said most Tanzanians were subjected to.

MPs from both sides initiated a process to table a motion of no-confidence in the prime minister in protest at the government’s seeming inability to halt corruption and the embezzlement of public funds.

In total, 75 MPs from the ruling CCM and opposition had by yesterday signed a petition to censure the prime minister.

In her remarks shortly after the adjournment of Parliament, Speaker Anne Makinda called for tolerance among the MPs and urged them to co-exist as friends and forget what had transpired. “All criticism that was made in the House Chamber should end here,” she said. “Since the criticism was aimed at building consensus, it should not be taken as a grudge against each other.”

The Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition in the Parliament, Mr Zitto Kabwe, who engineered the process to gather the signatures, said the written petition signed by 75 MPs had been handed to the Speaker’s office. Adjourning Parliament to June 12, Mr Pinda thanked the MPs for holding the government to account.

Source:The Citizen