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Waziri Mkuu Mizengo Pinda akimpa pole mtoto Kazija Abdallah aliyelazwa katika Hospitali ya Taifa Muhimbili Dar es Salaam baada ya kufanyiwa upasuaji wa moyo katika hospitali hiyo. Kushoto kwake ni Waziri wa Afya na Ustawi wa Jamii, Profesa David Mwakyusa na kulia ni Dk. Philly Chillo. (Picha na Ofisi ya Waziri Mkuu).

HABARI INAYOONGOZA LEO:: Ikulu yaja juu Ikulu imekasirishwa na habari zinazoripotiwa kwenye vyombo vya habari juu ya kifo cha aliyekuwa Gavana wa Benki Kuu (BoT) Daudi

Is Mkapa really a mere government pensioner?

Former President Benjamin William Mkapa.

-Questions still abound over his failure to address the real issues at hand

THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam

VARIOUS political commentators have reacted strongly to former president Benjamin Mkapa’s attempt to depict himself as a mere pensioner surviving on government retirement benefits � at a public rally in his home village in Masasi District, Mtwara Region over the weekend.

It was the ex-president’s first and much-awaited formal public response to serious allegations of corruption and abuse of office that have shadowed him for approximately one full year now.

But according to the commentators, Mkapa failed to adequately explain to Tanzanians why he chose to conduct private business dealings while still at State House, or his dubious involvement in the private ownership of the formerly state-run Kiwira coal mine.

Mkapa is said to have left several questions unanswered as he blamed the allegations against him mainly on ’’disgruntled’’ individuals with a personal grudge against him - apparently because he refused to favour them during his 10-year presidency from 1995 to 2005.

The ex-president was quoted as telling the public rally in his Lupaso home village: ’’Don’t listen to their lies...there is no truth in the allegations, but only hatred, mostly from people who thought I would favour them (in my administration) - but didn’t.’’

He added: ’’I am not financially well-off...I live on my government pension, just like my predecessor, (Ali Hassan) Mwinyi.’’

He made no mention of his controversial ownership of the Kiwira coal mine, or his business dealings from Ikulu from 1999 - when he set up a private company called ANBEM Limited with then first lady Anna Mkapa - until his retirement at the end of 2005.

Contacted for comment by THISDAY yesterday, the Vunjo Member of Parliament on a ruling CCM party ticket, Alloyce Kimaro (CCM) - who raised the allegations of graft and abuse of office against Mkapa in the National Assembly for the first time only last month - criticized the former president for failing to directly address the accusations.

’’Mkapa should respond to these serious allegations before MPs and journalists, instead of merely making public statements from his home village. After all, he was the president of Tanzania � not just of his village,’’ said Kimaro.

The MP said he believed the ex-president still hasn’t addressed the real issue at hand, but simply made a propaganda speech in dismissing the allegations wholesale.

Asked if he had any personal vendetta against Mkapa and whether or not he had ever asked for any favours from the former president, Kimaro remarked: ’’First of all, I don’t think he (Mkapa) even knows me personally�and I certainly never asked for any favours from him.’’

Kimaro said what drove him to speak out in parliament against Mkapa’s dubious involvement in the privatization and ownership of the Kiwira coal mine, was his desire to defend the interests of Tanzanians.

He challenged the ex-president to respond properly and in a proper public forum to the burning questions regarding his private business dealings at Ikulu, and involvement in the ownership of the Kiwira coal mine based in Mbeya Region.

Likewise, Karatu Member of Parliament Dr Wilbrod Slaa, from the opposition CHADEMA party, was scathingly critical of the weekend remarks by the retired president, insisting that he still has some serious explaining to do to Tanzanians.

’’Mkapa should tell us if he really did call himself an entrepreneur, start and operate a private business company from inside the State House premises? Did he pay office rent to Ikulu for this private company?’’ Slaa queried.

The opposition legislator also challenged the ex-president to publicly declare his current assets so that Tanzanians can make a comparison of his wealth from the time he first entered State House in 1995 to when he completed his second and final term in 2005.

Investigations by THISDAY have already established that Mr and Mrs Mkapa registered ANBEM Limited in 1999 while still at State House, and operated the firm for personal financial gain from inside the official Ikulu walls.

Three years after starting the company, the State House couple applied for and received a hefty loan of $500,000 (approx. 630m/-) from the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) Limited, which came on the heels of a heated national debate over the April 2000 privatization of the previously state-owned bank.

The NBC privatization was fiercely opposed by, amongst others, the Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, until his death in 1999. A good number of MPs from both sides of the political divide � ruling and opposition parties - were also strongly against the deal, arguing that the once-giant national institution was being sold off far too cheaply.

The privatization of the then NBC (1997) Ltd still went ahead as scheduled with the formation of NBC Ltd in April 2000 and acquisition by South Africa’s ABSA Group of 70 per cent of the bank’s shares - for a reported total price of just 15bn/-.

Records also show that Mkapa, as sitting president, was always a vocal supporter of the privatization process which resulted in the bank being taken over by ABSA Group, whose direct association with NBC actually began in August 1999 when the South African firm effectively started managing the bank at the request of the government of the day.

Further investigations by THISDAY have also established that in December 2002 - five months after securing the NBC Ltd loan � ANBEM Ltd landed another big credit-line in the form of a 250m/- loan granted by CRDB Bank Limited.

The revelations about the then president and first lady doing business from Ikulu followed reports by THISDAY that the Mkapa family owns an office building in Dar es Salaam, where a new bank with some big-name local businessmen on the shareholders list was to be located.

Situated right next to Mr and Mrs Mkapa’s official residence after retirement, the two-storey building is currently the official headquarters of Bank M (Tanzania) Limited.

Records show that ANBEM Ltd bought the building, registered under certificate of title number 6809 at Number 8 Ocean Road in the city’s upmarket Sea View area, from a company called Tanzania Building Works in 2002.

THISDAY has also learnt that the former president has recently moved into a luxurious beachfront house in the Masaki neighbourhood of Dar es Salaam, and also owns more expensive property elsewhere. (See related story on pages 16&17)