Civil servants face action for ‘Urafiki’ deal

Auditor General (CAG), Prof Mussa Assad

Dar es Salaam. Public Servants, who facilitated a contract between government and a Chinese firm, Changzhou State Company, to operate the Friendship Textile Mill (FTM) alias Urafiki, will be taken to task.

This is according recommendations of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), Prof Mussa Assad. The mill is run in partnership whereby owns 49 per cent of shares and the rest belong to the Chinese company.

Yesterday, the minister for Trade, Industries and Investment, Mr Charles Mwijage disclosed the CAG’s recommendation when responding to a question from Ubungo MP Mr Saed Kubenea.

In his main question, the outspoken Ubungo legislator wanted to know the efforts made by the government to ensure enough funds were injected for the company to operate efficiently.

And in his supplementary question, Mr Kubenea demanded answers over measures taken against the public servants who brokered the deal with Changzhou State Company, which had caused a loss of Sh18.04 billion by June 30, 2011.

Mr Kubenea added that the company had sought a Sh56.1 billion loan from EximBank China that had a Sh4.04 billion interest, thus causing the loss of billions of shillings of taxpayer’s money.

Responding to the questions, Mr Mwijage disclosed that the CAG has already made some recommendations and that the public servants who are linked with the contract will face the government’s wrath.

“The CAG has recommended that the public servants implicated in this issue should be taken to task, something which will surely be implemented,” he said.

Speaking on the government’s future plans, the minister said negotiations with a new Chinese investor through Trade and Industries committees were on track.

He said the new investor, which he did not name, has expressed readiness to allow Tanzania to own 75 per cent of shares.

“They are ready to make us the majority shareholders with 75 per cent. We are committed to ensuring that the industry operates efficiently and employs up to 800 people,” he said.

According to him, by owning more Urafiki shares, the government will be in a better position to decide how the company would be operated to benefit the country.