Bunge piles more pressure on Lugola over corruption

Dar es Salaam. Things could not get any worse for ex-minister Kangi Lugola who is increasingly being isolated for attack over alleged corruption deals.

The former Home Affairs minister is apparently a man under siege, only days after he was dropped from his plum position in government.

He has come under pressure from those who are baying for his blood since he was dropped in dramatic fashion by President John Magufuli.

The Mwibara MP on a CCM ticket is scheduled to appear before the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau today for grilling over the Sh400bn fire and rescue equipment deal gone sour.

He was sacked follwoing what the President said was a stinking deal for the equipment from Romania, and for which he is now under probe.

As if that was not enough, Mr Lugola may face similar questioning by members of his own party in his regional base of Musoma. The ruling party’s officials indicated early in the week they will summon the former minister to shed more light on the corruption allegations. In CCM lingo, when a top cadre is summoned, it is an ominous sign.

And Parliament may have just added more salt to the injury, suggesting Mr Lugola lied to the House over a questionable tender to supply police uniforms from South Africa.

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairperson, Ms Nagenjwa Kaboyoka (Chadema) claimed that the former minister lied on the three contracts for procurement of an e-immigration system, police uniforms as well as the equipment for the Fire and Rescue Services. She was tabling the PAC review of the 2017/18 report of the Controller and Auditor-General.

Noting that there was no iota of transparency in the procurement deals, Ms Kaboyoka – the Same-East MP – stressed that the deals weren’t scrutinized by the CAG.

“I remember I was in South Africa when I was informed that I had been aappointed into a special committee to investigate the deals under Ilala MP Mussa Azzan Zungu,” Ms Kaboyoka stated. According to her, only the CAG could do that.

“There was a misconception and Mr Lugola mislead the House when he declared that he was ready to walk naked if it were proved that the police uniforms weren’t bought and delivered,” said Ms Kaboyoka.

This prompted strong reaction from some opposition MPs, including Kawe MP, Ms Halima Mdee. The firebrand MP from Chadema asked the House to form a Special Committee to investigate whether or not there were indeed shoddy deals behind the purported agreements. However, the deputy Speaker Tulia Ackson turned down the request over technicalities.