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Pandora`s box to open today - Slaa
2007-08-18 10:36:03
By By Judica Tarimo
Karatu legislator Wilbrod Slaa has said he will today disclose secrets behind alleged government attempts to block his private motion in Parliament, which questions massive embezzlement of funds at the Bank of Tanzania (BoT).
`I am ready to die for my country, for the poor and voiceless men and women. I am going to tell the public why the government instructed the National Assembly Speaker, Samwel Sitta, to block my private motion,` Dr Slaa (Karatu, Chadema) said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Quite unexpectedly, Dr Slaa, one of the opposition MPs, dropped his private motion on Thursday due to what he described as lack of transparency, open and fair parliamentary systems.
He accused the National Assembly Speaker, Samwel Sitta, of reluctance and dilly-dallying in getting his motion debated in the House.
The legislator was pushing for investigations over serious and gross embezzlement of funds amounting to billions of shillings within the Central Bank.
According to Slaa, the Speaker had received instructions from the government to deliberately block the motion—that’s why Sitta decided to remain quiet despite evidence on the issue being provided by the MP.
`I am going to make it public why the government issued such instructions to the Speaker to block the motion,` said Slaa.
`I am not ready to say anything today (yesterday)…it will dilute the taste of the story. But tomorrow (today) all the government secrets will be made public,` he added.
The MP refuted claims that he withdrew the motion for fear of being suspended, as it happened to the North-Kigoma MP, Zitto Kabwe, who was suspended on Tuesday after he had tabled a private motion asking the House to form a committee to probe the government`s contract with Barrick Gold, which the Minister for Energy and Mineral, Nazir Karamagi, had admitted he signed in London in February.
`I don`t fear anything. If the issue is fear, what I am going to tell the public tomorrow (today) on the government secrets would have made me shudder more than tabling the motion,` said Slaa.
`We have to reach a point of saying no let them do whatever they want. We are ready to sacrifice our lives. We have to speak the truth to protect the interests of the poor and voiceless,` said the Karatu MP.
Dr Slaa dropped his motion on Thursday, saying he would look for other means to advance his motion.
He said he took the decision after realizing that the prevailing parliamentary system would not allow such a sensitive matter to be dealt with properly.
The motion was supposed to be tabled in the House for debate last Tuesday but the Speaker of the National Assembly, Samwel Sitta, said he needed enough time to go through it to satisfy himself that the contents were backed by evidence and satisfied all requirements.
Efforts to get the Speaker proved futile yesterday, as his mobile phone was switched off.
When contacted, the Minister of State in the President Office (responsible for good governance), Philip Marmo, dismissed Dr Slaa`s accusations as false and baseless.
`The government had not issued instructions to the Speaker to block the legislator’s motion in the House.
I was not around during the debate, but I think the Speaker delayed to set the ball rolling because the subject matter (BOT) is very sensitive,` said the minister.
`The Speaker had to be so careful in handling the issue, because a small mistake may affect the country’s economy and disrupt almost all systems,` he added.
He faulted allegations that Parliament was driven by the government, accusing opposition legislators of taking advantage of their minor representation in Parliament to raise unproved controversies in order to win public support.
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