By The Citizen Reporters
MPs had the last laugh yesterday, with the revelation that the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) will, after all, not press ahead with its investigation into the alleged fraudulent payment of double allowances to some of them. Impeccable sources in Dodoma told
The Citizen that the anti-corruption agency had stopped its controversial investigation, which had sparked off a war of words between the Legislature, the Executive and the PCCB's directorgeneral, Dr Edward Hoseah.
The sources privy to the discussions in the closed-door meeting on Tuesday between Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, National Assembly Speaker Samuel Sitta, and Dr Hoseah, confirmed that the parties had agreed to call off the investigation indefinitely. That, unfortunately, is the decision the meeting arrived at. Hoseah was not very happy with the development but there is nothing he could do.
He was helpless even though he tried to put on a brave face by saying the inquiry should be continued, said the source, whose identity we cannot reveal due to the position he holds in government, and which does not allow him to speak to the media.
Dropping the investigation will be a big victory for Mr Sitta and the MPs, who have vehemently opposed the PCCB's attempts to get at them for allegedly drawing allowances from Parliament and other agencies, including government ministries, for doing the same assignment as members of several house sector committees.
The move is, however, bound to send shock waves into the anti-corruption and good governance crusaders and a section of the public that feels the MPs should be held to account for possible fraud.
However, in other quarters, it has been felt that the investigation may have been motivated by a bid to muzzle the vocal MPs who have taken the Government head-on over several mega corruption scandals.
Prime Minister Pinda, who last week warned that the Government would not give in to the MPs' pressure to drop the inquiry, was on Tuesday reported to have bought Speaker Sitta's arguments that the investigation would set a dangerous precedent and deal irreparable damage to the relationship between the Executive and Legislature and should, therefore, be dropped.
It is interesting that it is Mr Pinda, who apparently prevailed on Dr Hoseah to drop the initiative, allegedly for the sake of harmony among the MPs and the Government. Mr Sitta is said to have stated that the PCCB investigation had created unnecessary tension in the National Assembly.
Efforts yesterday to reach both Mr Pinda and Mr Sitta for official confirmation on the matter failed.
Dr Hoseah, who on Monday declared at a press conference in Dar es Salaam that he would not be deterred in his bid to unearth the truth, and accused the MPs of practising double standards and seeking to frustrate his work, could not also be reached for comment.
But apparently taking the cue from the recent developments, a meeting of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi MPs on Tuesday night in Dodoma, saw opposing camps intensify attacks on each other over corruption and complaints about the manner in which the government was reportedly treating those perceived not to be toeing the official party line.
But opposition leader James Mbatia denounced the move to place the PCCB under the President's Office.
The NCCR-Mageuzi national chairman told a press conference at his party's offices in Dar es Salaam that the anti-corruption agency was toothless and was bound to act at the behest of the Executive.
Commenting on the PCCB investigation of the MPs, Mr Mbatia warned that the country would go from one crisis to another without any tangible results because CCM is frustrating the bid to overhaul the Constitution to effectively fight corruption and enhance good governance.
Our sources at the CCM caucus said 'war cries' punctuated the deliberations in the closed-door meeting called by the special committee formed by the party's National Executive Council (NEC) in August to look into the source of the bitter rifts among members.
The meeting to quiz the MPs over the conduct was instead turned into a session targeting party secretary-general Yusuf Makamba, who was accused of failing to properly manage CCM affairs.
Some MPs accused Mr Makamba and a Cabinet minister (name withheld) of allowing monied people to buy influence in the party and challenged them to resign from their positions.
But this did not deter the other camp, with a deputy minister trashing the Mwakyembe report on the Richmond scandal that led to the resignation early last year of Mr Edward Lowassa, as the Prime Minister, alongside Cabinet ministers Nazir Karamagi and Ibrahim Msabaha.
He proposed that President Jakaya Kikwete appoint a new committee to revisit the $172.5 million emergency power saga, but his idea was shot down by the majority, who felt it would expose the party' s weakness.
The elders committee, chaired by retired President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, was formed by the NEC to look into the conduct of some MPs, especially those who have been publicly critical of the Government.
The other members are the CCM deputy chairman (Mainland) and former National Assembly Speaker, Mr Pius Msekwa, and the retired East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) Speaker, Mr Abdulrahman Kinana.
During the more than four-hour meeting, which started at 8pm, nearly 10 leaders criticised the CCM members whose names have been associated with various scandals that have rocked the country in the past two years.
Reporting by Peter Nyanje in Dodoma and Mkinga Mkinga and Alex Bitekeye in Dar Probe into MPs allowance payments is called off A man inspects the rear axle that came off a daladala on Kilwa Road in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Nobody was injured in the incident.
