"letter from Tanzania - No 1"

12.2.08

Although I haven’t discussed it with Jane it seems sensible we don’t overlap too much on the blogging – so I will stick to my thoughts on cultural, social and political activities with a bit about my experiences with Mwanza Samaritans later.

So …. Arrival in Dar es Salaam, with its cholesterol ridden arterial roads, on Friday 8^th February was a potentially significant time for Tanzania and the whole continent of Africa. With Kenyan crisis smouldering away after the disputed election results in December the events of the week in Tanzania may be even more important. The ability of countries to transfer power with dignity and ease after an electorate has fairly spoken is of course a massive issue. However so is the need for effective and incorruptible government? Without it there seems to be little prospect of any sort of sustained economic take off in sub Saharan Africa.

It seems ‘The Government’ some 2 years ago reached an agreement with a company called Richmond Development Company to provide a 100 mega watt power supply to the country to alleviate its dire electrical supply problems. At the end of last year there were suspicions that this tender for some £80m of equipment and installation was outside regulations set up by the country’s procurement laws. A Dr Harrison Mwakyembe was appointed to chair a parliamentary select committee to look into this affair and its report came out a few days ago. Its findings and recommendations were devastating. The deal was found to be bogus, Richmond was no more than what Dr Mwakyenbe called a ‘briefcase firm’ and he was quoted as saying “it’s a shame to give such a multibillion deal to a company which had never even installed a bulb!” He went on to say that the company “kept on changing address and names every day” and “ there was concrete evidence of undue influences from top government officials and gross irregularities during tendering evaluations” For example, Tanesco, the Tanzanian governmental authority would pay Richmond some £76,000 per day as a ‘capacity’ charge, but receive only £6,000 per day if it failed to supply electricity!!” The recommendation was that “all officials who were in the government negotiating team were taken to task for negotiating such a bogus deal” oral, written and circumstantial evidence presented to the committee linked the Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa and other ministers to selecting Richmond. He and all his cabinet have subsequently resigned, and the President Jakaya Kikwete called for a new Prime Minister to be appointed. Discussion about all the issues seem to be freely discussed, it is headlines in the newspapers and just perhaps this report into corrupt and incompetent practices in government will be some fresh air blowing over Africa. Let us just hope that the days of these much needed resources getting into the hands of so few will wither.

Kwa heri for now - Donald