BY LAZARO FELIX
12th January 2011
Legal and Human Rights Centre board member Dr Edmund Sengondo Mvungi talks to journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Others are LHRC Director Francis Kiwanga and TAMWA Executive Director Ananilea Nkya.
Tanesco and Dowans` issue took a new twist yesterday after the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) filed a case at the High Court to block the government’s decision to pay the power firm 97bn/-.
According to the LHRC Executive Director Francis Kiwanga, the High Court (Commercial Division) was expected to set up the date and appoint a judge for the hearing of the case tomorrow.
“In our application, we asked the High Court to speed up hearing of the case. We hope it will do so…we are now waiting for instructions on Thursday,” he noted.
“We are challenging the hefty compensation…it is a huge amount of money, which is unfair to pay to Dowans,” Kiwanga told a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
The LHRC has contracted a prominent constitutional lawyer and university lecturer, Dr Sengondo Mvungi to represent them in court.
The latest move by lawyers and activists from the LHRC comes a few days after the government through the Ministry of Energy and Minerals agreed to pay Dowans the money as compensation for breach of the contract by Tanesco.
The government’s stance to compensate Dowans has attracted a fierce condemnation from legislators and civil society organisations. A few days ago, the Minister for Energy and Minerals William Ngeleja said: “The ministry has agreed to pay Dowans as per the ruling of the International Chamber of Commercial (ICC).”
The ICC ordered the state-run power firm, Tanesco, to pay Dowans 97bn/- for breach of contract — a ruling which is now being disputed by the LHRC as unfair and unjustifiable.
Kiwanga criticised elements of secrecy in the Tanesco-Dowans case, saying members of the public were not informed about the filing and hearing of the case at the ICC.
“The members of the public heard about the case after the ruling by the ICC. Why they made it secret?” queried Kiwanga.
He explained that there were civil societies currently working for the welfare of Tanzanians and promised the centre to maintain the spirit by challenging the ICC ruling the High Court. “LHRC and other organisations played an active in role in saving millions of Tanzanian taxpayers’ money in the case between the City Water and government case some years ago.”
He faulted the government’s decision to pay Dowans before considering other legal options to save taxpayers’ money.
Kiwanga pointed out that Tanesco should not pay even a single cent to Dowans, blaming the government for ignoring the Parliamentary report on the capacity and competence of Richmond/Dowans.
“Ignoring the Parliamentary report on the Richmond Company is itself against the rule of law, pillars of democracy and public interest,” said Kiwanga.
Meanwhile, Dr Sengondo Mvungi asked the government to respect the Parliamentary decision on the Richmond/Dowans issue.
“The Parliament through its committee, which probed the issue, said the Richmond contract was null and void and thus unenforceable. This should be respected by the government,” said Dr Mvungi
He explained that the Tanzania High Court (Commercial Division) would have to say if it supported the ICC to exploit Tanzanians or defended them since the government’s decision in the case was to pay the billions of money, while citizens were starving from poor services.
Tanzania Media Women’s Association (Tamwa) executive director Ananilea Nkya said:
“We should work collectively to make sure Tanesco does not pay the compensation to Dowans,” said Nkya.
She said it was a pity to see that the government was not ready even to appeal against the ICC ruling, a situation she explained as the government’s failure to be accountable to the people, who elected its leaders.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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