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Richmond probe committee submits report to Speaker
2008-01-01 09:13:46
By Hannah Mwandoloma
Questions surrounding the Richmond Development Corporation contract will soon be answered after a committee that was appointed to delve into the case submitted its report yesterday at the National Assembly Speaker`s office in Dar es Salaam.
The committee`s chairman, Harrison Mwakyembe, told a press conference in Dar es Salaam shortly after submitting the report that the document was supposed to reach the Speaker`s office by December 31, 2007 (yesterday).
``The Speaker was out of the country and he has just arrived, but he is not in the office yet. What we are doing now is to respect his directives,`` said Dr Mwakyembe.
He said more details about the report would be revealed as soon as the Speaker got the report.
Mwakyembe thanked the people for being patient and said the committee was grateful for those who were ready to give information and thus make their job easier.
Speaking about witnesses who gave false information, Mwakyembe said that the committee would later sit and discuss what to do about them, insisting that what was ahead of them now was to discuss the findings with the Speaker and wananchi at large.
The speaker, Sitta, appointed Mwakyembe,who is the chairman, and other committee members are Lucas Selelii (Nzega-CCM), Herbert Mntangi (Muheza-CCM), Stella Manyanya (Special Seats-CCM) and Mohamed Mnyaa (Mkanyageni-CUF), to probe into the 172.9bn/- Richmond power generation deal.
Some of the terms of reference that the committee was given by the Speaker included establishing the exact owners of the US-registered Richmond Development Company, the nature of the company`s activities, how suitable the company was to be awarded the contract to generate 100MW gas-powered electricity to the national grid.
The committee was also suppose to evaluate the entire tender process leading up to the highly-controversial decision to eventually award the contract to Richmond, including assessing the circumstances behind the tender process and establishing whether or not all legal, regulatory and ethical procedures were followed.
The committee started its investigations on November 15, last year, and was given a period of one month up to December 15, last year, but the time was extended for two more weeks following the committee`s request.
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