UNION presidential candidate under the coalition of four opposition parties (UKAWA), Mr Edward Lowassa, cannot distance himself from the Richmond scandal despite various efforts made by the parties to cleanse him.
Addressing a packed press conference in Dar es Salaam , former Chadema Secretary General, Dr Willibrod Slaa, termed as baseless claims that if Mr Lowassa was at all involved in the saga he should then be taken to court.
“There are no statutes of limitation in criminal cases, it does not mean that he is innocent just because he has not been arraigned before a court of law,” Dr Slaa told reporters, requesting voters not to elect a candidate with questionable records.
Mr Lowassa had tendered his resignation in early 2008 after being implicated in an energy deal corruption scandal, although he denied that his office was involved in improperly awarding a contract to US-based electricity company - Richmond Development - in 2006. The firm failed to provide emergency power during a power crisis in 2006.
Armed with documents he claimed to be evidence of his involvement, Dr Slaa hinted that former premier’s participation in the Richmond deal was clear, thus clearing him of wrongdoing was just a wastage of time. He wanted Mr Lowassa to come clean and name the person who ordered him to close the deal with the company as he has been claiming that he received orders from above.
“Why does he fear? I need him to come out and tell us who ordered him. We have all the evidence and it is not my responsibility to take him to court,” he said.
Dr Slaa insisted that Mr Lowassa was a leader tainted with corruption and his remarks that anybody with evidence that he is corrupt or was engaged in the Richmond scandal should either take it before courts of law or stay mum was absurd.
Though the candidate says the deal was clean and was prompted at a time when the country was faced by a critical shortage of electricity, that threatened to plunge the country into a blackout, Dr Slaa insisted that the process used to pick the company was dubious and had all elements of corrupt practices.
He noted that records show that when searching for a company to supply power during that period, about 26 firms had shown interest, but only eight were shortlisted.
He said that some people had even approached him and wanted to pay him 500m/- in bribes to raise a motion in Parliament to stop debating Dr Mwakyembe’s report.
Dr Slaa went further to say that Richmond was awarded the tender despite the fact that it had no capacity of providing the service.
He said that the Parliamentary Select Committee findings led by Dr Harrison Mwakyembe had shown that the premier was involved in the irregular bidding process that awarded the contract to the Texas-based Richmond Development Company.
Dr Slaa said it was also found that the company had no valid registration in the US or Tanzania at the signing of the contract in 2006 and had neither expertise nor experience to execute the power generation project. I have a number of evidence on this.
There is a document also showing how his personal assistant wrote a letter in regard to this deal, a personal assistant can’t write a letter without authorisation from his superior,” he noted.
He added that Dr Mwakyembe led a committee also referred to a report of a Cabinet meeting which sat on February 10, 2006 and it was satisfied that Mr Lowassa’s role in the deal was indisputable.
“His personal interests are also the reason which made Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) be forced to sign a contract with Richmond without any previous discussions,” he charged.
Source: daily news
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