Dear All,
Zanzibaris have once again lashed out at another unstinting supporter and an absolute stalwart of our Union. He has been advised to abandon his cockeyed ideas and do the review work properly without 'throwing a blanket of secrecy in what special groups have to tell the Commission'.
Ni ndefu kidogo na siwezi kuitoa yote hapa, kwani wengine wanasoma kupitia simu zao.
But, before we come out hard on Zanzibaris, let's remind ourselves of what we said of him just before he started his work as the Constitutional Review Commissioner.
Definitely, by choosing Warioba we put our money in a wrong bank!
//Nkumba.
| Katiba: Tanzanians to bank on Warioba |
| Thursday, 03 May 2012 15:49 |
By Mlagiri Kopoka, The Political Platform Correspondent Mwanza. Tanzanians' focus will with effect from this month be on Judge Joseph Warioba, as the Constitutional Review Commission he chairs begins its work. The 71-year-old man is a decisive figure to whatever might be the outcome of the referendum on the new constitution. The Constitutional Review Commission is the second presidential assignment for Mr Warioba to chair after he led the ill-fated one against corruption. The third phase government had ignored most of the first Warioba Commission's findings leading to the escalation of the vice in and outside the government. Whether findings of the second Warioba Commission will fair differently this time or not, it remains to be seen. The heated debates in and outside Parliament before and after the Constitutional Review Act 2011 was passed indicate, however, that Tanzanians expect the second Warioba Commission to take them to new heights of democracy, good governance and rule of law. But a question lingering in the political pundits' minds is whether Warioba is the right man for the job. A journalist with Tanzania Daima Bakari Mohamed doubts in his opinionated article early last month on the credentials of the prominent lawyer and veteran politician in bringing about significant change to the country's political landscape. He questions, as many other political observers do, if leaders from the past administration such as Warioba have the political and moral will to independently and with integrity bring about the much-needed reforms. Judge Warioba is not a newcomer to Tanzania politics, as he took part in one way or another in writing the 1977 Union Constitution and oversaw the running of affairs in one party state. He served as Prime Minister during former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi's first term in office between 1985 and 1990. He also served as Attorney General in the first phase government under the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. President Mwinyi dropped Warioba in favour of John Malecela as PM during his second term in office between 1990 and 1995. Former President Mwinyi's failure to use his presidential powers to nominate Warioba as an MP when the lawyer had lost his Bunda constituency to Steven Wassira raised speculations with some concluding that Warioba had been left out due to incompetence. The former PM's political star, nevertheless, rose again in 1996 when the third phrase President Benjamin Mkapa appointed him chairman of the first Warioba Commission. Mr Mkapa had to form the Presidential Commission Against Corruption to fulfill his election pledge that he would vigorously fight against the vice once elected. Although the Warioba Commission reported on the awful gravity of corruption and recommended measures to remedy the crisis in all ministries and their departments, the status quo continued. Over a decade after the Warioba Commission's report was unveiled, it is evident that Tanzania has been sliding deep into the cesspool of corruption as indicated in the Controller and Auditory General's report unveiled in Parliament recently. The CAG findings match with a statement once made by a Swiss ambassador to Tanzania Adrian Schlaepfer that corruption was a biggest obstacle to development in Tanzania. The CAG's report on massive corruption in the government compels the President to reshuffle the Cabinet to the peril of the taxpayers, who have to foot the cost that come with the change of guard. But allegations were leveled against Mr Warioba in the Mwananchi Gold Limited scandal linked to the EPA accounts. Activists said Mr Warioba was among directors of the company they accused of scooping over $5.5 million from the Bank of Tanzania between 2004 and 2006. The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau reportedly threatened to file a case. Mr Warioba admitted chairing the MGL Board saying the company belonged to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi, but distanced himself from the corruption allegations. Transactions of the BoT loans were documented and evidence was available, he said, as he expressed his shock over the allegations reported in a weekly Kiswahili newspaper in October 2009. While Mr Warioba insisted that the reports were politically motivated, CCM had through its former secretary-general Yusuf Makamba denied having a stake in MGL. The controversial company remains one of many unresolved riddles in the EPA corruption scandal whereby billions of shillings were dubiously stashed away from the central bank. The Constitutional Review Commission chairman has to clear the cloud surrounding the MGL ownership. Before he embarks on his new assignment, he should have shown Tanzanians how clean he is to lead them to the much-awaited new constitution. Mlagiri Kopoka is a political analyst based in Mwanza. http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/magazines/32-political-platform/22013-katiba-tanzanians-to-bank-on-warioba.html |
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