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Tanzania: Public Should Not Sympathise With the Corrupt
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East African Business Week (Kampala)
EDITORIAL
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Kampala
WHEN Tanzania's Prime Minister Edward Lowassa resigned together with other two cabinet ministers over the Richmond scandal early this year he later paid a visit to his constituency, Monduli in Arusha with a mission to tell his voters about what befell him.
We were told by a section of the media who were invited to the function that at the Arusha airport Lowassa was received by hundreds of people including his voters, ruling party and government officials and other people from all walks of life.
According to reports, a motorcade of more than 70 cars accompanied Lowassa's entourage.
He was accorded a heroe's welcome, praised by the media, politicians and the ruling party for being a "daring leader" and "exemplary" to other politicians.
Some went as far as proposing to other politicians to emulate Lowassa.
Last week, we heard of a similar occurrence when the former minister for Infrastructure Development Mr Andrew Chenge visited his constituency in Bariadi, Shinyanga region with the purpose of telling his voters what prompted his recent resignation.
Like Lowassa, government officials including the Bariadi Area Commissioner, the ruling party zealots were at the forefront of welcoming the "hero".
Chenge resigned following revelations by the UK based Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that he had about $1 million in his personal account at New Jersey Island in the UK.
The SFO in collaboration with the Tanzania's Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) have launched an investigation into a military radar deal sold to Tanzania in 2001 by BAE Systems for Pounds Sterling 28 million believed to have been inflated and that some of the money was diverted into personal accounts in Tanzania or abroad.
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Like Lowassa who said that he was not involved in the Richmond scandal, Chenge described his spate of allegations and his resignation as a political accident.
In Mwanza for example, CCM 'congratulated' Chenge for stepping down.
What is obvious however is that both Lowassa and Chenge were seeking public sympathy in a bid to enhance their image. It is unfortunate that this is a new culture in the politics of Tanzania whereby those who have failed to deliver seek public sympathy by making fools of the electorate that put them into power. It is high time leaders of this nature do justice to the public and keep quiet.
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