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Finally, minister Chenge resigns
2008-04-21 10:46:21
By Guardian Reporters
Beleaguered Infrastructure Development minister Andrew John Chenge has resigned.
A terse State House statement issued in Dar es Salaam last night and quoted by a section of the broadcast media said President Jakaya Kikwete had accepted the move.
The statement quoted State House Communication Director Salva Rweyemamu as saying the minister had written a letter to the President acknowledging that he (Chenge) was the subject of ongoing criminal investigations.
It said President Kikwete accepted the resignation after appreciating the fact that stepping down was the best decision under the prevailing circumstances ``to allow the country to move on``, adding that details of the development would follow.
Chenge has been under a barrage of scathing attacks from an array of quarters in recent days over the staggering 1.2bn/- he is reported to have in a suspicious bank account on Jersey Island in the UK.
Reports on the said account were brought to light by the highly rated British newspaper The Guardian while Chenge was on President Kikwete`s entourage on official visits to India and China.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda had said earlier yesterday that it was upon President Jakaya Kikwete to decide the minister`s fate as a member of the cabinet.
The President returned home on Saturday from state visits to India, China and the US and Pinda noted: ``Now that the appointing authority is back is in the country, nothing will go wrong because he is well informed about the allegations against minister Chenge.``
Speaking to reporters after opening a Mbinga Community Bank shareholders` meeting in Dar es Salaam, yesterday Pinda said: ``I can assure the public that the President is back and he will work on the matter and the outcome will be made public.``
He would not be drawn into elaborating on the allegations against the beleaguered minister, pointing out that President Kikwete was the relevant appointing authority and therefore the only person who could act on the matter.
Asked whether the former Attorney General declared the money said to have been found in his offshore bank account on assuming office, the Prime Minister said he was not in a position to give an answer.
He instead directed journalists to get ``proper explanation`` from the Public Leaders’ Ethics Secretariat, saying it was the one with the mandate to deal with the issue.
Opening the meeting, the Prime Minister challenged the bank’s shareholders to employ honest and committed and issue soft-term loans to enable more people to benefit from its services.
``That will enable many people to employ themselves and improve their lives and therefore contribute to the growth of the national economy,`` he said.
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