16 November 2008
Arusha — When President Kikwete at the beginning of his term promised he would create employment to a huge number of Tanzanians, little did he know that con artists would take advantage of his statement to rip off unsuspecting citizens looking for jobs.
Last week a fashionable pair, allegedly man and wife, hailing from Dar es Salaam took Arusha by storm. They, in various settings, made locals believe that they were from the State House in Dar es Salaam and were here to deliver what the President had promised: Jobs.
Armed with letters endorsed by what was later discovered to be fake State House stamps, the men allegedly went around Arusha town telling youths that they had been sent to Arusha to dish out jobs to the unemployed.
Among the documents that they carried in their brief case, the seemingly no-nonsense couple had a long list of youths who had already secured employment through the so called 'State House' initiative.
But to get a job one had to pay a processing fee. When they met an Arusha resident, Modu Kaku at a downtown bar famous by the name of Ken Garden on November 11 they enthused him that by powers granted to them by the Highest Office in the country, they would fix him a job at TanzaniteOne, a leading gemstone mining company at Mererani. They showed Kaku a neatly done list of 29 persons of Arusha who had already been fixed with jobs.
Working with TanzaniteOne is a dream of many youths. Kaku also got excited with the idea. But what somewhat disturbed him was the fact that he had to part with Tsh 390,000 that the State House would use as administration fees.
To Kaku that amount was beyond comprehension. How could he afford it while he had no job in the first place? He simply walked out of Ken Garden and called the police, a move that shattered the dreams of the con artists of making money out of the jobless.
According to Arusha's Acting Regional Police Commander Robert Boaz, the suspected conmen have been arrested and identified as 47-year-old Maira Steven and 34-year-old Hamisa Abubakari Lema both residents of Dar es Salaam.
Police confirmed that when they searched the couple they found a fake letter purporting that they were on a mission sanctioned by the State House.
Police are yet to receive complaints from the 29 other people who may have been conned. Police are continuing with their investigations before the two are brought before the court of law. By the time we went to press the two suspects were already behind police lock-up bars.
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