(Dar es Salaam) Tanzania: U.S. Envoy Warns Tanzania

 
 The Citizen

President Magufuli and judicial leaders (file photo).

By Daniel Muhau

Dar es Salaam — A top US diplomat has expressed concern about "discouraging signs" of backtracking on transparency, human rights and the rule of law in Tanzania, which if unchecked

could undermine business and the country's place as a key player in regional security.

Ms Virginia Blaser, the Chargé d'Affaires at the US Embassy in Tanzania and the East African Community (EAC), spoke on Thursday in an exclusive interview with The Citizen, ostensibly her last before the end of her four-year tour of duty in the country.

She said while the government should be applauded for the positive path it had taken in fighting corruption, it should also sincerely take stock of its record on transparency and the rule of law, and pay attention to some worrying retrogressive signs, especially on the private sector.

"Tanzanians need a future, and that won't come from development partners; that is not going to come from government jobs; it needs to come from a broad-based, healthy, strong, confident private sector," she said.

"And instead, I see some discouraging signs on the private sector side; and I worry about what path that will take Tanzania." She added that she would like to see more US companies in the country, but that would depend on a "more open, and transparent, and supportive private sector environment".

Ms Blaser, currently the most senior diplomat at the US embassy in Tanzania, spoke barely two months after the US-based Symbion Power took the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) to the International Court of Arbitration in Paris, seeking $561 million settlement for breach of contract.

In March, the firm filed an application for arbitration at the court after efforts lasting over a year to amicably resolve the dispute about the validity of the 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) failed.

The disputed PPA was signed in December 2015, handing the US firm a long-term contract to supply Tanesco with 112 MW through the firm's Ubungo gas-powered generators until December 2030.

However, on January 26, 2016 Tanesco wrote to Symbion, saying the PPA was put on hold.

"I think it's really important when a US company signs an agreement, that both parties receive the goods and services and payments that have been agreed upon... that is an issue of rule of law; that's an issue of transparency," said Ms Blaser. "I think there can be some improvements there."