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Cabinet dissolved
2008-02-08 09:11:00
By Angel Navuri, Dodoma
President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete has dissolved the cabinet, a terse State House press release said yesterday. The move follows Premier Edward Lowassa`s resignation yesterday, which the President had accepted.
Earlier, Lowassa had told the National Assembly that he had tendered his resignation to the President, hardly a day after a damning report of a parliamentary select committee implicated him in the Richmond scandal.
Lowassa told the House that due to the fact that he had been linked to the allegations, he had asked the President to allow him to step down.
Findings of the select committee, formed last year to investigate circumstances which led the government to enter into a power generating contract with Richmond Development Company LLC in 2006, have implicated Lowassa as one of the architects of the controversial deal.
Announcing his decision yesterday, Lowassa said although the committee, under Kyela MP Harrison Mwakyembe, did not give him a chance to respond to charges that his office had violated the bidding process by awarding the tender to an American company; he had decided to step down for the sake of his party and the government.
``With great honour to my party (CCM), fellow ministers, members of parliament and the public, I have decided to tender my resignation to President Jakaya Kikwete.
I thank him for his confidence in my person, appointing me to this post and the cooperation he extended to me during the two years I served this nation as prime minister,`` said Lowassa.
Silence reigned in the House as the PM read his speech and accused the committee of violating principles of natural justice by condemning him unheard, despite the fact that the allegations leveled against him were serious.
``I would like to thank Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe for his presentation. Mwakyembe, a university lecturer in the department of law is aware of the law of natural justice, yet he refused to seek my response over the allegations,`` Lowassa said.
The report of the select committee, which implicated Lowassa and other high ranking officials, was presented to Parliament on Wednesday by Dr Mwakyembe and was supposed to be discussed by legislators for two days.
At the end of the morning session yesterday, the Speaker of the National Assembly Samuel Sitta, announced he already received names of 51 legislators who wanted to debate on the issue.
In a solemn mood, the Prime Minister sprang to his feet and approached the microphone which was positioned close to the Speaker`s podium.
``I am standing here in this House where we all gather to uphold good governance and democracy.
I want to put on record the way the select committee, comprising of credible members who travelled as far as the United States to seek evidence, but deliberately refused to call me for interrogation and instead passed judgement against me on the basis of gossip.
We are all politicians. If we are judged so unfairly, then who will be spared, and how will justice be dispensed to ordinary people?`` asked Lowassa.
He said his office was located hardly a walking distance from the Bunge offices, adding, ``I could have walked there if there was no vehicle to take me to the place for the questioning. Quite unfortunately, that did not happen. I am deeply humiliated and oppressed.``
In the presence of his wife Regina, who took her seat in the visitors` gallery - in clear and sharp voice— Lowassa said: ``There is a wish that I am going to grant. That is nothing other than resigning from my post of Prime Minister.``
As he returned to his seat, the Speaker said the Prime Minister’s statement had taken him by surprise. Sitta then sought for advice from fellow legislators on how to proceed.
Responding to the request, Chadema MP Zitto Kabwe said according to the country`s constitution, the Prime Minister represented the executive powers and was the head of government business in the House.
``If the Prime Minister has expressed his wish to resign, will the cabinet be allowed to remain intact while there is no Prime Minister to advise the President on government matters?,`` asked Zitto.
Sitta said President Kikwete was yet to communicate to him to confirm whether he had accepted Lowassa`s resignation, therefore Lowassa was still the PM.
CCM MP Wilson Masillingi called for patience among legislators while studying the unfolding situation before jumping to conclusions. ``Serious issues are always judged by patient people,`` he said.
He made the entire House burst into laughter when he said; ``For the first time in history, the Speaker is seeking advice from MPs. This shows how serious the matter is. We need time to contemplate on the situation because the Prime Minister, whose appointment we endorsed, has now tendered his resignation,`` suggested Masillingi.
Dr. Wilbrod Slaa (Chadema) said claims by the Prime minister that the select committee was unjust to him were unfounded as the committee had attached copies of official communication from his office instructing officials in the ministry of Energy and Minerals to disqualify other bidders and award the tender to Richmond Development Company LLC.
The committee`s report indicated that Richmond, which signed the contract with TANESCO on June 23, 2006 for generating 100 megawatts of electricity during power crisis in 2006, had no track record, lacked expertise and was financially incapacitated.
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