Bunge cannot review all govt deals with investors, PM says
Prime Minister Kassim Majliwa responds to questions from MPs in Parliament yesterday. PHOTO|PMO
What you need to know:
Prime Minister allays fears of corruption in mega deals saying the law will take its course
MPs believe allowing the House to oversee government business fully can rescue the country from the curse of dubious contracts
Dodoma. Prime Minster Kassim Majaliwa said yesterday it was practically impossible for Parliament to review all contracts the government enters into with investors, and called upon MPs to have faith in the Attorney General to act on behalf of the country.
The Premier said this when answering a question from Chadema Special Seats MP Ms Kunti Majala, who wanted to know when the government would let the National Assembly exercise its constitutional powers of overseeing the government business fully by reviewing all the contracts it intends to ink.
According to Ms Majala, because Parliament has not been reviewing the contracts, there has been a growing tendency by government leaders to sign contracts tainted with corruption.
Premier Majaliwa said there is a possibility to set thresholds for all contracts. If any should go beyond that, then it will have to be tabled in the House for review.
“The truth is, if Parliament is to review all the contracts, then this House will not find time to do other core businesses. We have the Attorney General’s office that is entrusted with doing this work. On the aissue of corruption, we have laws that prohibit that and we’re going to take stringent measures against officials who go against the laws and leadership ethics,” he said.
The PM also said the government has already reduced the workload of the AG’s chamber, and now only contracts worth Sh1 billion and beyond will be sent to the office for review, from the previous Sh50 million.
“All contracts below Sh1 billion will be reviewed in the respective offices, and we call upon all officers to be ethical, short of that they will be subjected to stern measures,” he warned.
The Opposition camp and some CCM MPs, for years now, have been raising the issue, stressing that allowing Parliament to review all contracts was the only way to avoid dubious contracts.
