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Top national scouts officials accused of graft
2006-01-10 08:10:13
By Guardian Investigative Reporter
A row is simmering within the Tanzania Scouts Association (TSA), amid allegations that top officials are engaged in a multi-million scam involving the sale of foreign invitations for its members to youths willing to seize an opportunity to travel abroad to seek better life, The Guardian can authoritatively report.
An impeccable source within TSA confided that between 1998 and 2004, a substantial number of teenagers flew to Europe, USA and Asia under questionable circumstances and never to return back to the country.
Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan and United States of America, our source illuminated, are the countries where the youths departed. To date, the youths are yet to return.
But as the row snowballs, accusing fingers are pointing at the Association’s two top officials as the architects of the mega rip-off.
However, when contacted the Executive Commissioner of Scouts, Alpherio Nchimbi, vehemently denied the involvement of the duo in the alleged sale of the invitations.
But as the official denied the allegations, documents in The Guardian’s possession implicate the top officials at TSA in the alleged malpractice.
The duo is said to run this devious lucrative business by putting for selling various invitations, which, are extended to TSA by the World Organisation of the Scouts Movement.
Young people eager to go abroad and from wealthy backgrounds are said to be culprits as they pay millions of shillings for the opportunity to get out of the country.
The World Organisation of the Scouts Movement usually invites scouts from various parts of the world to share experience in different European countries.
’In 2002 for example 12 youths went to France following an invitation from Centre National des Eclaireuses de France.
The invitation was for Tanzanian scouts but the officials allegedly auctioned it to non-scouts, with each selling for anything between USD 900 and 1500,’ said the source.
The Guardian is in possession of a copy of a letter signed by one of the TSA’s senior officials to the Centre National des Eclaireuses de France, which, among other things gives the list of names of those who went to France.
Part of the letter, dated October 19, 2002 reads, ’Reference is made to your letter dated 16 October, 2002 regarding our contingent to camp at your centre. Please I submit to you a list of all participants and their leaders.’
In a subsequent letter, dated October 22, 2002 from the Centre National des Eclaireuses de France, to the French Ambassador in Tanzania, and signed by Pascal Lartigue, the hosts informed the ambassador that the ’scouts’ were meant to stay at the centre from October 25 to November 9, 2002.
However, despite the dates of the stay in France have been made explicitly clear, The Guardian has impeccably established that the ’delegation’ remained in France to date and is yet to return.
Further, it has also been established that in 2003 a group of six people travelled to Belgium but none returned.
The same year again, eight youths allegedly left for the United Kingdom with the Chief Commissioner of Scouts as the head of delegation.
However, only three including the scouts’ boss, are said to have returned.
’In 2004, twelve teenagers flew to Japan ostensibly at the invitation of the host scouts association but this time only one is on record having made it back to the country.
About the same time five went to Holland, two have since never returned,’ the source divulged further.
However, even as he denied allegations levelled against them, Nchimbi conceded that there was a problem as a majority of the scouts who went abroad courtesy of the association never returned back to the country.
’It is true that we get a lot of invitations for scouts to go abroad and share experience with other scouts. But when they arrive there, they remain there. Some find their relatives and others stay for what is called home hospitality where certain rich families ask to stay with some scouts for a longer time,’ he said.
In an exclusive interview, Nchimbi attributed the problem to district scouts leaders, parents and different embassies for failing to deal with the problem.
He said district scout leaders normally have the duty to nominate those to attend, but with permission from both their parents and teachers.
He denied that invitations were being sold out. Nchimbi clarified that usually the participants are required to pay for some expenses, which, he regretted may have been mistaken for the sell of the entire invitation.
’However, we discovered that there are some irregularities in selecting the scouts done by scouts leaders at district levels. Due to this, we have decided to take back warrants of the leaders, suspend them till we get diligent ones, who would do the job properly,’ he said .
Nchimbi also blamed various embassies for issuing visas which last for more than three months, instead of the time requested.
’Most of the invitations last for two or three weeks. But when we apply for visa, most embassies grant visa which, last for three or six months. So when time for scouting activities is over those who opt to continue to stay on do so because the visas allow them,’ Nchimbi said.
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