UK envoy accused of ill will, opposition MPs march out

Opposition MPs walk out of Parliament in Dodoma yesterday. They protested against the ministry of Energy and Minerals’ budget proposals.  PHOTO | EDWIN MJWAHUZI 

In Summary

• The British high commissioner accused of coordinating meetings in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma against proper procedures

Dodoma. The government has  accused the UK High Commissioner to Tanzania, Ms Dianna Melrose, of influencing other development partners to cut aid and support to Tanzania. The deputy minister for Energy and Minerals, Mr Steven Maselle, told Parliament yesterday that the envoy was violating  diplomatic principles.

 

He said the envoy was coordinating meetings in Dar es Salaam and Dodoma against proper and accepted procedures to convince other development partners to stop supporting Tanzania.

The deputy minister added that  she was pushing  the government to take  a loan from Standard Chartered Bank to pay private companies.

 “Tanzania is a sovereign state;  we have our way of doing things and no-one should intervene our programmes,”  he said.

Earlier this month Ms Melrose told The Citizen that the UK and other development partners are concerned about the controversy surrounding the acquisition of Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL).

She said the IPTL issue was of “great concern” to the British government, adding that the High Commission had already communicated with the relevant ministers in addition to writing to the BoT Governor.

Earlier, opposition MPs yesterday walked out of  the debating chamber, protesting  the manner in which  the debate on the 2014/2015 Energy and Minerals budget estimates was being conducted.

The walk-out was curtain-raised by remarks by Mr Freeman Mbowe,  leader of the Opposition, that, it was pointless for the camp’s members   to continue participating in a session that sought to hide corruption- related issues.

At a media briefing session, he  claimed that CCM had  crafted a stand under which its legislators  were bound  to endorse the ministry’s budget proposals, and defend the government against corruption scandals.

Mr Mbowe said the opposition MPs  had opted to walk out after learning that  their CCM counterparts  had vowed to endorse  the budget without taking their camp’s arguments into account. He described the IPTL scandal  as an issue of critical public interest that needed to be debated thoroughly  in the House but which CCM  legislators weren’t ready to  see happening.

According to him, many MPs had submitted evidence to  the Speaker but it was obvious no good would come out of the initiative.

“We have evidence including the report that was prepared and presented to the government officials by experts on IPTL. They advised what the government could do to face the challenge but nothing has been done so far, ” he said.