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Mtikila tells of 450m/- bribe offer to withdraw case
2006-05-22 07:28:37
By Hannah Mwandoloma
Democratic Party (DP) chairman Christopher Mtikila disclosed yesterday that a plan had been hatched to bribe him to withdraw a case he has filed against three organisations in the country, two of them pension funds.
He said his counter-plot to have the businessmen who had offered him 450m/- to withdraw civil proceedings aborted when the would-be bribers got wind that after handing him the money, Mtikila would not withdraw the case nonetheless.
However, Rev Mtikila added that he had himself arranged to have the person who was to deliver the money arrested.
Speaking to reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Rev Mtikila said that he had never experienced such corrupt practices ever since he joined politics, and was surprised that there were individuals who are ready to part with huge sums of money to corrupt their way to glory.
’’I filed the civil proceedings just after winning the case in favour of independent candidates.
This is because my party’s policy demands me to be concerned with wananchi’s welfare and their development,’’ Mtikila said.
He said when he filed the proceedings against the three bodies, his primary concern was for the defence of the poor workers.
’’I’m surprised by the way people engage in corruption. I was offered 300m/- and my colleagues were offered 50m/- each, which totals to 450m/-, to withdraw the case,’’ said Mtikila.
He said he was told last Friday to meet the emissaries at a hotel (name withheld) to receive the money. However, the people who had scheduled the meet him failed to turn up, he said.
’’I’m informed that they did not turn up because, they feared I would take the money and decline to withdraw the case,’’ Mtikila claimed.
Mtikila said he was not paid or sent by anyone to do something that concerns the welfare of workers in the country. He commended the press for fighting graft and other vices in society.
’’If there are people who are helping me in this case then it is journalists who always speak the truth after investigating the vices that people commit. I’m not going to withdraw this case,’’ he said.
He also castigated allegations by a newspaper that there is a whiff of religion in the whole issue.
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