23:30
Dar es
Salaaam. Speaking at the State House yesterday after receiving a report from an
eight-member team led by Professor Nehemiah Osoro, Dr Magufuli said he endorsed
all its recommendations.
 |
| Prof. Nehemiah Osoro submit to President second team report |
“ I hereby
direct intelligence and security officials to summon all the individuals who
have been mentioned in this report and interrogate them, as a preamble to taking
appropriate legal actions,’’ he said.
Ex-Minister's AGs and commissioners featured in the President's second probe team's report.
Among them
are former cabinet ministers who entered into shoddy Mining Development
Agreements (MDAs) with mining companies, occasioning loss to the country in
taxes between 1998 and 2017.
Others are former
Attorneys General (AGs), their deputies, former commissioners of minerals,
directors of contracts departments, lawyers in the Ministry of Energy and
Minerals and others who participated in the drafting of the agreements, as well
as provision and renewal of mining licences.
Some of the individuals
featuring in the report include former ministers for energy and minerals -
Daniel Yona, Nazir Karamagi,Wiliam Ngeleja and Professor Sospeter Muhongo.
Others are former
commissioners of minerals Paulo Masanja and Dr Dalali Kafumu, as well as Acting
Commissioner of Minerals Ally Samaje. Featured too are former AGs (by virtue of
which they were chief state legal advisors) Andrew Chenge and Johnson Mwanyika.
The list also includes
former deputy AGs, Felix Mrema and Sazi Salula as well as the heads of the
contracts department, Maria Kejo and Julius Malaba.
The
Osoro-led committee also proposed that legal steps should be taken against
workers and owners of the biggest mining companies, Freight Forwarders (T)
Limited for contravening the country’s laws.
Dr Magufuli
furthermore called for a review of the Mining Act, directing lawyers in the
ministries of Energy and Minerals, as well as Justice and Constitutional
Affairs to work together to make important amendments that will help the
country to benefit from the natural resources.
The mining
companies that signed vague agreements with the ministry of Energy and
Minerals, according to the report, are Bulyanhulu Gold Mines Limited (Kahama
Mine Corporation Limited), North Mara Gold Mine Limited and Pangea Gold Mine
Limited - all of which are under the Acacia Gold Mine Plc as well as Geita Gold
Mine Limited (AngloGold Ashanti Limited).
“Our country is endowed with a lot of natural
resources but our people are still languishing in abject poverty because of
some people who subordinate individual gains to national interests,’’ he said.
He blamed some officials who ignored potential investors who had shown interest
to build smelters in the country.
The Head of State said the
country needed investors who were ready for conducting business under win-win
arrangements and not exploiters who had been siphoning the country’s resources.
He asked the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai, to explore the
possibility of squeezing amendments in the law within the ongoing parliamentary
budget session.
“Even if this entails
extension of the session for an extra week, I am ready to give you the go-ahead
and give you full support, to enable us amend our legislation for the benefit
of our country,’’ he added.
Mr Ndugai, who also
attended the report’s handing over function, said the House was ready to
overhaul the law, adding that he also intended to form a team for overseeing
the country’s diamond business as he did relating to Tanzanite.
Tweet
