The Kinondoni Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday found former minister for Infrastructure Development Andrew Chenge with a case to answer in relations to a traffic accident suit filed against him.

The court said in its decision that testimony by six witnesses and evidence produced by the prosecution have implicated Mr Change who must now defend himself.

In the case, Mr Chenge, who also served as an Attorney General in the third phase government, is charged with careless driving, causing the death of two women and driving a vehicle without an insurance cover.

Delivering the ruling yesterday, principle resident magistrate Kwey Rusemwa who is hearing the case, said according to the testimony by prosecution witnesses, he had found the accused with a case to answer in all the three charges.

"After going through testimony from prosecution witnesses, I find the accused with a case to answer," the magistrate ruled.

After the ruling, the magistrate ordered the accused to start his defense testimony in September 27. Mr Chenge's lawyer, Simon Mponda, told the court that the defence would produce one more witness in addition to the accused own testimony.

Mr Chenge allegedly committed the offence on March 27, last year, at around 4.30am along Haile Selassie Road, Masaki area in Dar es Salaam.

On the material day, Mr Chenge who was driving a Toyota Hillux, Double Cabin, allegedly drove recklessly and caused an accident. He is further accused of driving a vehicle which had no insurance cover on a public road.

The accused admitted that he was the one who was driving the car involved in the accident that caused the deaths of two women identified as Victoria George and Beatrice Constantine, but denied all other charges and facts of the case.

In order to prove the disputed facts, the prosecution side, led by state attorney Richard Rweyongeza, called six witnesses and tabled several exhibits to support the case.

Besides being a member of Parliament, Mr Chenge has formerly served also as the Attorney General and then as the minister for East Africa Co-operation and later as the minister for Infrastructure Development.

During the trial, the court heard that Mr Chenge had knocked a three-wheeler bajaj and killed the two women on the spot.

One of the prosecution witnesses explained why the bajaj driver escaped soon after the accident and the law enforcers could not trace him.

While testifying, the Kinondoni head of traffic unit, Mr Fortunatus Musilimu, said it was later established that the owner of the said bajaj had not formally employed the driver.

"We interrogated the owner of the bajaj but he could not identify the driver as he had no legally-binding contract," he told the court.

Mr Musilimu told the court that the bajaj was in the hands of Mr Majjid Ghalib who was identified as the special owner, after it was entrusted to him by Ms Zuwena Hamadi of Tabora, who failed to operate the business.

On the other hand, the senior traffic officer told the court that insurance documents submitted to the police were not meant for the car involved in the accident.

"We took the documents to the National Insurance Corporation (NIC) for verification and the NIC established that they were not genuine," he said. He added that the documents were for a car whose registration number was T512 AEC, which was different from the one Mr Chenge was driving at the time of the accident.

Musilimu also noted that during interrogations, Mr Chenge said the responsibility of dealing with insurance affairs rested in his wife's company and their driver.

Mr Chenge told the officer during questioning at the police station that an error was made either by his wife or their driver because the car had been parked for a long time, because of a technical problem, before he used it.

"But according to the laws and regulations related to motor vehicles, it is the duty of the car owner to check upon everything regarding such property," said Musilimu, adding that insurance policies are subject to a contract between the car owner and the insurance company and not the driver.

Another witness who works as an Insurance agent with the Scan Insurance and General Services Limited, Mr Raygon Njeje, told the court that the insurance receipt which the accused presented as his, belonged to one Evarist Bigurumba Sesa.

"I personally signed the receipt for Mr Sesa, not Mr Chenge. It was valid for three months from June 29, 2007 to September 28, 2007," explained Mr Njeje.

He also said that the accused had never been a client of the firm operating as Phoenix of Tanzania Insurance Company Limited.