|
Opposition trashes govt effort to combat graft
2008-01-02 08:37:34
By Lydia Shekighenda
A coalition of four main opposition parties said yesterday in Dar es Salaam that the government will never succeed in the war against embezzlement and corruption in its system.
Reading a joint New Year statement on behalf of the four parties, Chadema national chairman Freeman Mbowe said the war was very difficult because the entire system was steeped in corrupt practices.
The four leaders of the main opposition parties who held a joint press conference yesterday in Dar es Salaam, apart from Mbowe, were Prof Ibrahim Lipumba of the Civic United Front, Augustine Mremba of the Tanzania Labour Party and James Mbatia of NCCR-Mageuzi.
``It`s very difficult to root out corruption and embezzlements in the government as the system used to put them into power was based on corruption,`` said Mbowe.
Mbowe said various issues arose last year including the Tanzania power utility firm (Tanesco) hiking tariffs for electricity and the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) governor Dr. Daudi Ballali's alleged misappropriation of funds from the bank's External Payment Arrears (EPA) account.
He affirmed the opposition`s commitment to continue calling for constitutional changes and pressing for a free and independent national electoral commission this year.
|
