MP slams govt over escrow

East Bariadi MP Andrew Chenge (left) chats with his Kigoma Urban counterpart Peter Serukamba in Parliament yesterday. PHOTO|EMMANUEL HERMAN     

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The CCM legislator’s views came just days after the government cleared the former Ministry of Energy and Minerals Permanent Secretary Eliakim Maswi and former minister Prof Sospeter Muhongo of any wrongdoing.

Dodoma. The Tegeta escrow scandal took a new twist in Parliament yesterday with Kigoma Urban MP Peter Serukamba calling upon the government to clear every minister who played a role in the infamous scam.

The CCM legislator’s views came just days after the government cleared the former Ministry of Energy and Minerals Permanent Secretary Eliakim Maswi and former minister Prof Sospeter Muhongo of any wrongdoing.

Mr Serukamba said here yesterday that clearing some and leaving others sent a bad signal and that it would be better if the government decided to clear everyone who was implicated in the scandal.

“The government should also clear the names of Prof Anna Tibaijuka, William Ngeleja and Andrew Chenge, who were also adversely mentioned and were either sacked or resigned from their posts,” said Mr Serukamba.

He said, if the transactions from the Tegeta escrow scandal were clean, then the names of those who benefited from the cash must also be cleared.

Mr Serukamba, who was debating the 2015/2016 budget estimates for the Prime Minister’s Office in Parliament yesterday, said if things were to go well, the government must form commissions of enquiries against all former ministers who resigned or were sacked due to various scandals.

He said the treatment must go back to the time when former PM Edward Lowassa and several ministers resigned over the Richmond scandal.

“If the probe committees get satisfied that they were innocent, the government should announce them to be clean and if possible, they must be reinstated in their previous posts,” he said while being applauded by many MPs.

He said the trend of clearing others may send a signal that those who have not been cleared are dirty and thus they do not deserve to vie for positions in the coming general elections.

He accused the government of discriminatination and added that the selective treatment meant there was a sinister motive for those not benefiting from the amnesty.