Bribery claims as finance bills are held back

Special Seats MP Maryam Salum Msabaha attends Wednesday’s parliamentary session that passed a resolution to sanction the East African Community Monetary Union Protocol.  PHOTO | EDWIN MJWAHUZI 

By Patty Magubira,The Citizen Reporter

In Summary

• The sitting was initially scheduled to end yesterday but was extended to next week to pave the way for tabling of the Value Added Tax Bill 2014 and the Tax Administration Bill 2014.

Dodoma. Two bills scheduled to be tabled in Parliament have hit a snag, officially because of incomplete preparations. This development came amid speculation that the bills had been shelved on account of bribery. The Speaker took the unusual step of distancing the Parliamentary committee from the allegations.

 

National Assembly Operations Director John Joel, confirmed yesterday that the Parliament Sitting would end today instead of July 1 if the Finance Bill 2014 was approved. The sitting was initially scheduled to end yesterday but was extended to next week to pave the way for tabling of the Value Added Tax Bill 2014 and the Tax Administration Bill 2014.

A heated debate reportedly ensued during preparation of the bills between the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Budget, Finance ministry and the Tanzania Revenue Authority. At the heart of the two-week long meetings held here was the failure to effectively involve stakeholders in the preparation of the bills.

The committee, according to Speaker Anne Makinda, was supposed to analyse and improve the bills before they were tabled in the House for debate and approval.   The committee reportedly could not finish the task because the bulky bills were submitted late and the relevant committees did not have enough time to engage stakeholders. 

Ms Makinda lashed out at MPs for allegedly spreading rumours that tabling of the bills was postponed because the business community had bribed the Standing Parliamentary Committee on Budget.

Lobbying was common in all parliaments, she explained, and the business community was in Dodoma for that purpose. Ms Makinda ruled out the possibility that the business community would bribe the entire committee to favour them.

In an interview yesterday, though, Nkasi MP Ally Kessy insisted that the business community had influenced the decision on  tabling of the bills.

According to Mr Kessy, virtually all MPs called on the government to revoke the Sh1.2 trillion worth of tax exemptions--which was not in the interests of the traders. The deputy minister for Finance, Mr Mwigulu Nchemba, defended the committee led by Mr Andrew Chenge, saying the permanent secretaries of the relevant ministries had consulted stakeholders in preparing the bills.

Meanwhile, an MP yesterday said he doubted the Speaker’s will to find a lasting solution to the Sh200 billion Escrow Account saga. Mr David Kafulila (Kigoma South–NCCR Mageuzi) said the issue posed a threat to his life. Addressing his voters directly, he went on to say that Attorney General Frederick Werema should be held responsible if anything were to happen to him.

The AG wanted to beat him in Parliament on Tuesday, he added, and then threatened to chop off his head outside the House the following day. “You have provoked him,” Speaker Anne Makinda told the lawmaker, adding that the Escrow Account saga would be dealt with according to standard procedure.

Seeking guidance on the matter, Mr Kafulila said Mr John Mnyika (Ubungo–Chadema) and he had submitted evidence of the scandal to the Speaker but they had not received feedback. Ms Makinda said Mr Kafulila had indeed written to her but she was surprised that the letter was in the media even before she had gone through it. The House had already directed the Controller and Auditor General and the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to investigate the Escrow Account saga, she added. 

“I was surprised to see Mr Kafulila submit the evidence in Parliament,” said Ms Makinda. She advised him to submit the same to the CAG and PCCB.