Residents of Mirerani township in Simanjiro, Manyara Region on Thursday
follow the debate going on in Parliament following the tabling of the
Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee report on the Tegeta escrow
account scandal in Dodoma on Wednesday. PHOTO | JOSEPH LYIMO
By Zephania Ubwani,The Citizen Reporter
In Summary
- Often, religious leaders are highly held in Tanzanian society. So, the recent revelation by the parliamentary accounts committee that some leaders received monies that were illegally siphoned from the Tegeta escrow account has left many in disbelief
Arusha. Church leaders here
have expressed their shock and disbelief over the way huge amounts of
cash was reportedly siphoned off the Tegeta Escrow Account at the
central bank.
They said they are even more dismayed that some of
the individuals alleged to have benefitted from the illegal money were
priests and bishops.
“I’m at a loss over what actually happened. Church
leaders are not supposed to be involved in scandals because it is a
shame,” lamented Bishop Solomon Masangya of the Lutheran Church.
He advised men of the cloth to keep away from
illegal transactions and other scandals -- financial and otherwise --
which tarnished their image and their respective church denominations.
A report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC),
which was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday in Dodoma, gave the list of
senior church leaders as having received part of the fraudulently
acquired money.
“If that is proven, then the church leaders have
to change now. It is a shame to be associated with such a damning
scandal,” he said.
Several other individuals, including ministers,
politicians, judges, serving and retired legislators and government
officials and CEOs of public corporations and others are alleged to have
received huge amounts of cash from money taken from the account. Bishop
Eliud Isangya of the Arusha-based International Evangelism Centre
called for national prayers over the Tegeta escrow account scandal which
has rocked the country.
Chadema founder and the first BoT governor Edwin
Mtei pleaded that those found to have been implicated in the scandal
should face the full wrath of the law, saying it was not enough to force
them to resign.
“They should be taken to task irrespective of
whether they are from the ruling party or the opposition. We should not
have mercy on plunders of national resources,” said the opposition
leader.
He said Chadema was opposed to looting of the
money by the top state officials and that a fight against corruption
will be his party’s agenda during the 2015 General Election.
The shocking findings of the IPTL report continue
to dominate discussions among people here with many calling for the
prosecution to those proven to have benefited from the illegal money.
Others wondered why some public figures mentioned
in the report had remained quiet over allegations made against them
weeks before the PAC made bare its findings before the House in Dodoma
A business analyst based in Arusha and who spoke to The Citizen on Saturday
on condition of anonymity suggested that ministers and judges and other
senior public officials must resign from their positions if the
allegations are true.
“If allegations made in the PAC report are not
correct, why have they remained quiet even when their names started to
appear in some tabloids?” he asked, noting that findings by the PAC
probe team have once again shed light on the credibility and integrity
of senior public officials.
Other residents of Arusha called on the law
enforcement agencies to take to court officials whose names were
mentioned in the scandal in which Sh306 billion in public funds was
fraudulently siphoned out from BoT.
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