Tanzania: Legislator wants Finance, Foreign Affairs Ministers to resign for ‘ill advising President Magufuli’

Dodoma. Iringa Urban Member of Parliament, Mr Peter Msigwa, said on Monday, June 17, 2019 that Finance and Planning Minister, Dr Philip Mpango and his Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation counterpart, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi, should resign for ‘ill advising President John Magufuli’.

Debating the government’s Sh33.1 trillion budget for the financial year 2019/20 in Parliament, Mr Msigwa said most of the ‘economic hardships’ that Tanzanians were going through were a result of ‘bad advice’ that the President gets from the two ministers.

He said Prof Kabudi was the key advisor in the mineral concentrate saga between the government and Barrick Gold where Tanzania was promised Sh700 billion in ‘goodwill’ payment.

“Since then, nothing has been done and the minerals sector is stuck. It is not going anywhere. Where is the money that we were promised?” enquired Mr Msigwa.

The Deputy Minister for Minerals, Mr Stanslaus Nyongo, intervened on a point-of-order, telling Mr Msigwa that the mineral sector was doing fine and that its contribution to the gross domestic product was going up.

“The mineral sector is not stuck. As we are talking, the share of the mineral sector to the economy is going up. We are collecting over Sh300 billion in royalties and taxes. This has never happened before. The Sh700 billion in commitment from Barrick is still there. It is just a question of time,” he said.

But Mr Msigwa declined to accept the point and proceeded, calling for the resignation of Dr Mpango, saying the fact that the President was firing Commissioners General at Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) was a ‘clear indication’ that there was something wrong with the person in charge of the finance docket.

“The President has sacked TRA Commissioners General on several occasions since you became Finance Minister. There must be something wrong with you. In some countries, it was for you to resign,” he said, reiterating his usual statement that: “If you are lost, speed is useless”.

He said the president appoints ministers so they can add value to the management of the Tanzania’s affairs.

He said it was unfortunate that President Magufuli recently fired Industry and Trade minister, Mr Joseph Kakunda, after serving in the position for just about 200 days.

“It was the Minister of Finance and Prof Kabudi who deserved to be fired,” he said.

He said it was unfortunate that Dr Mpango was telling the public that the economy was growing while businesses were closing.

“How would you explain economic growth when shops are closing? How do you tell someone that the economy is growing while he cannot afford to pay school fees for his children?” he enquired.

He said the ministers advised the President wrongly on cashew nuts.

“You sent soldiers to collect cashew nuts from farmers and now, we have not exported our crop. We are going the wrong way and you are busy increasing speed. We are now told most of our cashew nuts is rotting,” he said.