Hot debate over Zanzibar foreign loans

Dodoma. The debate on how Zanzibar can acquire foreign loans resurfaced yesterday during the meeting of the parliamentary committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs when the team was reviewing the Written Laws, Miscellaneous Amendments Bill, 2016.

The Bill, which was tabled in Parliament for first reading last November, among other issues, proposes amendment of the Government Loans, Guarantees and Grants Act to have its section 12 read,  “Revolutionary   Government   of   Zanzibar   may   borrow   money   under   on-lending  arrangement  from  the  loan  that  has  been  secured  by  the (Union) Government under this Act.”

That, however, didn’t auger well with Malindi MP and member of the committee Ally Saleh who claimed that was a constitutional matter and one of the contentious Union issues the government was trying to sneak it through the amendments.

“First, I don’t know to what extent did the government of Zanzibar was involved in the proposed amendments. Again, even with this new proposed section, Zanzibar still has no powers to secure loans and has to use the Union government which will add more charges on top of the principle loan.”

He also noted that, the issue was hotly debated during the new Constitution writing process.

“Unfortunately, the new Constitution process has not reached the desired end and this issue is being raised again here in this law, which I believe is not right. The constitutional change must come first and laws will be changed later,” he said.

For his part, President of the Tanganyika Law society, Mr John Seka echoed Mr Saleh’s views and told the committee, “Foreign debt is one of the union matters, which means Zanzibar doesn’t have autonomy to borrow money outside the country. For years, that has been causing uproar in Zanzibar, and if you ask me, I would say this particular amendment is aimed at seeking an easy way of solving that challenge.”

Representatives from the Attorney General (AG)’s office quickly responded on the issue, saying Zanzibar has already submitted their suggestions on the section under review and come Tuesday next week the AG, Mr George Masaju, would brief the committee on new developments.

The committee chairperson and MP for Rufiji Mohammed Mchengerwa adjourned the debate on the issue to Tuesday.