| Book gives insight into stinking radar, jet deals | Send to a friend |
| Monday, 13 February 2012 11:01 |
 By The Citizen Reporters Dar es Salaam. An internationally acclaimed book by a seasoned journalist and anti-corruption whistleblower has made chilling revelations on how the Tanzanian government was sweet-talked into buying malfunctioning and grossly over-priced equipment.Third phase President Benjamin Mkapa and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair feature prominently in the recently published 672-page book titled ‘The Shadow World-Inside the Global Arms Trade’. The author is seasoned South African journalist Andrew Feinstein, founding co-director of Corruption Watch, an anti-corruption non-governmental organisation. The equipment include the $40 million military radar and a brand new Gulfstream presidential jet for another $40 million, in a country in which the poorest third of its population lives on less than a dollar a day. According to the author, the idea that Tanzania should have the military radar did not originate from the country’s leaders, but was pushed by Mr Tony Blair, during his tenure at Number 10 Downing Street.He specifies that the ex-British premier not only sold the radar idea to then-President Mkapa, but coupled it with a promise to ensure that the deal was sealed. “While trumpeting his Commission for Africa’s recommendations for improved governance on the continent, Tony Blair persuaded the President of Tanzania, one of the world’s poorest countries, to purchase an air radar system for military aircraft at the cost of Sterling Pounds 40 million,” reads part of the book. The book first published in the UK late last year by Penguin Books, alleges that massive corruption and money laundering was done by Asian-Tanzanian business tycoons Sailesh (or Shailesh) Vithlani and Tanil Somaiya to sell some of the equipment to former Tanzanian Attorney General Andrew Chenge and former Central Bank Governor Idriss Rashidi. Requested for his reaction, Mr Chenge said it would be imprudent for him to comment because he had not seen the book. He asked this reporter: “What is the title of the book again?” The former Attorney General, whom the reporter had encountered shortly after yesterday’s session of the National Assembly was adjourned on Friday, then excitedly remarked:“God loves me, because I will surely consult my lawyers after reading the book to see the possibility of suing the author. This means I will make money. Is this not a blessing from God?” According to the book, Somaiya and Vithlani had been making good money from arms deals for many years before the radar purchase. “They were involved in public procurement contracts worth well over $240 million,” says the author in the book that has been described by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “peeling back the veil of secrecy behind which the global arms trade undermine accountable democracy, socio-economic development and human rights, causing suffering across the world.” “In the same way that Andrew Feinstein (the author) exposed a corrupt arms deal that darkened South Africa’s rainbow nation, he has now turned his forensic gaze on the impact of similar weapons deals around the world,” comments Archbishop Tutu on the back cover. In 2004-5, says the book, Vithlani and Somaiya won a multi-million dollar tender from the Ministry of Defence for the supply of around 650 trucks and buses for the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF).“While the government paid the suppliers the full amount of the purchase price in 2006, only 350 of the vehicles had arrived in the country by 2009,” says the book. In applying for the tender, says the book, Somaiya and Vithlani fraudulently claimed to be the owners of Incar Tanzania Limited, the authorised dealer for Iveco trucks from Italy. “It was not until 2006 that they actually bought the company. The Incar company file has meanwhile mysteriously vanished from the Business Registration and Licensing Authority office in Dar es Salaam,” says the book. The book was published last year at a time when BAE had already agreed to compensate Dar for the £30 million air traffic control system. According to information from the House of Commons, BAE is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Tanzanian government later this month with regard to the £30 million payment. The full sum will become due 14 days after the document is signed. The compensation deal has been dogged by political problems ever since BAE agreed to pay. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
| Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 February 2012 05:51 |
Comments
But thanks to our uswahiba government that he is still in the parliament looking for another 'deal' to make a few senti.
If at all Tanzania is really poor the culprits are in front of us... Let us all wake up and fix them forever.
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