Mengi on Corruption

Five grand corruption `sharks` named 2009-04-24 12:52:23 By Patrick Kisembo
IPP Limited Executive Chairman Reginald Mengi yesterday named five people he described as ``notoriously corrupt sharks``. He also called on the public to be more courageous in stamping out corruption, a monster he said has been eating up Tanzania’s resources and stealing people`s precious time. Addressing a news conference in Dar es Salaam, Mengi said the country was facing serious problems due to grand corruption and was ``troubled by the fact that the people involved in acts of corruption do not want to be touched``. He explained that the “notoriously corrupt people” were involved in almost all scandals the country has been witnessing. These include those revolving around the Richmond and Dowans emergency power generation contracts, the Bank of Tanzania`s external payment arrears account (EPA), purchases of military helicopters and vehicles, the presidential jet, Radar, National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) and National Lottery. Here is the full text of the statement the IPP Executive Chairman issued at yesterday`s news conference: ``Our country is currently facing a huge problem of corruption and is troubled by the fact that the people involved in acts of corruption do not what to be touched. The resolve by our President, His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, to fight corruption and all other evils has shaken these people and they are now determined more than ever to combat all the people who are supporting the President in stopping further plunder of our country`s resources. ``Tanzanians should know that people who are being accused of being corrupt in our country do not exceed ten, and out of the ten, five are being accused of being notoriously corrupt - ``corrupt sharks``. ``These are: Rostam Aziz, Tanil Somaiya, Yusuf Manji, Jeethu Patel and Subash Patel. These people are being accused of stealing billions of public money, and to make this worse, the billions have been transferred out of the country. ``These notoriously corrupt people are involved in almost all scandals that have happened in our country, including those concerning Richmond, EPA, Dowans, Army helicopters and vehicles, the Presidential Jet, Radar, NSSF, PSPF, National Lottery etc, etc. ``The great efforts of His Excellency the President to hasten economic development and better living for every Tanzanian are weakened by the horrendous theft of national resources. A great majority of Tanzanians still face extreme poverty; they are unable to determine where the one meal a day is going to come from. To make things worse, where a Tanzanian with better means provides assistance to lessen hardship within the society and to eradicate poverty, these people involved in corruption allege that such assistance has political agenda. They want Tanzanians to starve or die as a result of other problems. ``It seems that their aim now is to cause national havoc; it will not be surprising to learn that these people support what is behind DECI while Tanzanians remain chasing Pastors instead of asking themselves the real source of the havoc. ``These notoriously corrupt people are not only stealing our national resources; they are also stealing our precious time. Instead of using our time for economic development we are using most of it to combat corruption. ``Our efforts have failed to even cause a dent; instead these corrupt people have been hardened in their determination. They have established newspapers that are abusive and treat Tanzanians with contempt. ``They have created a scenario where the thief chases and attacks the person from whom he has stolen. Even as Tanzanians continue to cry foul, the notoriously corrupt people continue to use their ill-obtained wealth to influence the granting of big contracts to them often in different names. ``Millions of Tanzanians are combating corruption, but there are a few who have come forward vehemently and are known by their names. The notoriously corrupt people have been heard to say that they will annihilate these vehement combatants. ``The notoriously corrupt people should know that if the combatants are harmed in any way in this country or any other country, they will be answerable to the people of Tanzania. ``We Tanzanians must now ask ourselves - what gives these notoriously corrupt people the audacity to treat Tanzanians with contempt? ``I would like to conclude by saying that all corrupt people and especially those who are being accused of notorious corruption must be dealt with conclusively, otherwise they will rock the stability of our nation. We must realise that we have now reached the stage when we must say enough is enough.``
SOURCE: Guardian
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