The manner in which the Parliament handled the saga surrounding the beleaguered Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals David Jairo, shows that that executives did not learn from the experience of the $172 million Richmond Power scandal in 2007.
After the Richmond scandal emerged, the government tasked the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to investigate the saga. But, in its findings the agency cleared Richmond, the company that, under dubious circumstances, won the tender to supply emergency power supply following the prolonged drought that hit the nation in 2006.
After PCCB cleared Richmond Development Company, the Parliament under former Speaker, Samuel Sitta, intervened by forming a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the deal.
The findings of the committee cost Edward Lowassa who was forced to resign from the prime ministerial post after the committee report implicated him.
Two other former Cabinet ministers, Nazir Karamagi (Energy and Minerals) and Ibrahim Msabaha (East African Cooperation), also resigned from their posts.
On Thursday this week the House unanimously resolved to form a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the handling of the probe into allegations levelled against Jairo.
The decision by the Parliament was reached barely 24 hours after Chief Secretary Phillemon Luhanjo on Wednesday told reporters at a press conference at State House that the committee he had appointed had concluded that Jairo had acted within his authority when he directed departments and agencies under the Ministry of Energy and Minerals to contribute Sh50 million each to facilitate the approval of the ministry’s 2011/2012 budget by Parliament.
But, an MP who also served as Cabinet minister from 2005 to 2010 told The Guardian on Sunday mid this week on the sidelines of the Parliamentary session in Dodoma that by allowing the Executive to investigate itself, the Parliament overlooked the matter. The MP preferred anonymity to avoid reprimand.
“ I think MPs should have formed the Parliamentary Select Committee the same day when the accusations against Jairo emerged in the House instead of leaving an investigation to be conducted by an Executive,” he said. He said since Jairo belonged to an Executive pillar of State, it was wrong for the Parliament to allow the same pillar to investigate him.
It was Kilindi MP Beatrice Shelikindo who on July 15 brought to public attention, the letter claimed to have been written by Jairo, directing all departments and agencies under the ministry to contribute Sh 50 million each to facilitate the approval of the ministry’s budget proposals by Parliament.
But speaking exclusively to The Guardian on Sunday, over the weekend Deputy Speaker Job Ndugai, who presided over the session that reached the decision to form the Parliament select committee, said, “It could partly be true and partly untrue that the Parliament overlooked the matter”.
According to Ndugai, the Parliament could not have hastily taken the matter in its own hands bearing in mind that the Ministry’s budget had already been rejected by MPs, a move that prompted the government to ask for a three-week time to rectify the situation.
“When Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda asked for an allowance of time to review the budget for the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, he also asked for time so that relevant authorities could deal with Jairo’s case. In that sense the Parliament could not have rejected the government’s appeal,” Ndugai said.
He said the Parliament was forced to step in after it was not satisfied with the manner in which the government handled the matter. He said the Parliament had expected the report of the probe committee to be submitted to the House for deliberation.
Ezekia Wenje (Chadema-Nyamagana) was of the view that Jairo’s accusations did not centre on how much money the departments and agencies contributed. The gist of the subject, according to Wenje, centred on the justifiability of expenditures of the money contributed.
“The Controller and Auditor General (CAG) missed the point; we had faith in him but he missed the point. We didn’t want to be told how much was contributed, what we needed was the justification of the expenditures of the taxpayers’ money,” he said.
Hamadi Rashid Mohammed (CUF-Wawi) said the Parliament gave an opportunity to the government to work on the matter in good faith especially after Premier Pinda told the Parliament on the material day that he would have immediately sacked Jairo if he were the appointing authority.
“We, as MPs granted the government an opportunity to work on the matter but because we have not been satisfied with the steps taken there is nothing wrong in Parliament taking over,” he said.
The outspoken Simanjiro legislator Christopher Ole Sendeka, on his part, admitted that the Parliament should have taken the matter immediately after the accusations were levelled against Jairo on July 15.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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