Tanzania: Why Arusha City Director, Five Others Suspended

PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Tuesday suspended Arusha City Director John Pima and five others over abuse of office and misuse of public funds.

The Premier, who was on a day long working tour of the city sent home Dr Pima and his colleagues pending further investigations.

The six have been accused of fraudulently obtaining cash through forged documents.

Others who were on the receiving end of the PM’s wrath include city treasurer Mariam Shaban Mshana, Innocent Maduhu who is an economist and Alex Daniel Tlehama.

Others are Nuru Gana Saqwar and Joel Selemani Mtango, a procurement officer, who has since been transferred to Longido District, Arusha Region.

The visibly irate Premier said the decision to axe the six city officers follows blatant embezzlement of public resources witnessed at city hall.

He equally tasked the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) to get hold of crucial documents that facilitated the siphoning of substantial amount of public funds, as the six await their fate.

“As I had reiterated before, we cannot tolerate such dishonest officers who loot from public coffers under our watch,” said the Premier while addressing city workers who thronged the Arusha International Conference Center (AICC) on Tuesday.

Likewise, the PM directed the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) Regional Commander to zero in on the issue, with a view of exposing those behind such embezzlement.

Mr Majaliwa faulted and reprimanded the embattled city director for failing to discharge his duties well, allowing such theft to happen under his watch.

“Dr Pima failed all of you by falling short of being a true custodian of crucial projects for personal gain,” he explained.

The Premier was categorical that Dr Pima failed to oversee the projects and channeled the funds intended for the implementations of the projects towards his own projects.

According to the PM, the money which was intended to procure some building materials amounted 44m/-.

The materials are said to be procured from Cherry General Supplies and Services and were alleged to be ferried to Dr Pima’s house in Olkerian area in the city.

The PM alleged that Dr Pima had on March 28th this year, directed the city treasurer to disburse Innocent Maduhu’s NMB bank account with 103m/-.

The money was intended for a brick factory, according to the PM. “Why was this money credited on personal bank account instead of a ward account,” he queried.

He further alleged that on April 14th this year, the embattled city director directed some 65m/- be disbursed into Alex Daniel’s account.

This served as payment for the maintenance of city and streets roads.

On the same mentioned date, the Premier alleged that another 65m/- was credited into Nuru Gana’s account, an amount which was intended to buy murram.

“There’s some 233m/- which has gone unaccount- ed,” said the PM.

Dr Pima is also accused of transferring some 50 city workers without following proper procedures.

The process is said to have taken place between January and May this year.

“Some were transferred per your request,” claimed the PM.

In the same vein, the PM alleged that Dr Pima and his colleagues requested for 103m/- worth receipts from the owner of Cherry General Supplies, a move which saw the firm’s proprietor owing Tanzania Revenue Authority(TRA) some 15m/-.

Earlier on, the Premier toured a number of city markets such as Mbauda, Kilombero and Machame which were built for petty traders.

During his visit, Mr Majaliwa established that the cubicles were roofed using iron sheets measuring 30 gauge, while the standard gauge is 28.

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