Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07DARESSALAAM677
2007-05-09 05:00:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dar Es Salaam
Cable title:  

TANZANIA'S NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION LAW: A STEP FORWARD

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM ECON TZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9535
PP RUEHDBU RUEHDT RUEHKN RUEHLMC RUEHMJ RUEHMR RUEHPB
DE RUEHDR #0677/01 1290500
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 090500Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6115
INFO RUCNCLM/MCC CANDIDATE COUNTRY COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 3181
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA PRIORITY 2997
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI PRIORITY 0627
RUEHLMC/MCC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAR ES SALAAM 000677 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/E BYODER AND DMALAC
MCC FOR GBREVNOV AND MKAVANAUGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2012
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON TZ
SUBJECT: TANZANIA'S NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION LAW: A STEP FORWARD

REF: DAR ES SALAAM 00085

DAR ES SAL 00000677 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission, D. Purnell Delly, for reason
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DAR ES SALAAM 000677

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/E BYODER AND DMALAC
MCC FOR GBREVNOV AND MKAVANAUGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2012
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM ECON TZ
SUBJECT: TANZANIA'S NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION LAW: A STEP FORWARD

REF: DAR ES SALAAM 00085

DAR ES SAL 00000677 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission, D. Purnell Delly, for reason 1.
4 (b).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On April 17, Tanzania's Parliament
passed the Anti-Corruption bill; legislation which has been
in the works for more than two years. On April 25, Eunice
Reddick, Office Director of East Africa, met with the
Director General of Tanzania's Prevention of Corruption
Bureau (PCB) and the Executive Director of a local NGO to
discuss the new Anti-Corruption bill and the Tanzanian
government's anti-corruption efforts more broadly.
Overall, it is clear that the bill marks an important step
forward, laying legal groundwork to accelerate prosecution
of corruption crimes. The debates within Parliament, the
donor community, and civil society, however, have revealed
weaknesses in the new law. Most importantly, it appears
the independence and effectiveness of the PCB will depend
largely on political will. While the bill states that the
PCB is an independent body, the President's Office (State
House) will continue to fund the PCB and the Director of
Public Prosecution (DPP) will continue to decide whether or
not to prosecute the cases submitted by the PCB. END
SUMMARY.

Parliament Passes New Anti-Corruption Law
--------------

2. (U) On April 13, Minister of State for Good Governance
Philip Marmo, tabled the long-awaited Anti-Corruption bill
in Tanzania's Union Parliament in Dodoma. On April 17,
Parliament passed the legislation with one amendment. The
amendment specified that the Director of Public Prosecution
(DPP) is obliged to decide within 60 days of receiving a
case from the PCB whether or not it should be taken to
court or not.


3. (SBU) During their April 25 meeting, Reddick
congratulated
Edward Hoseah, PCB's Director General, on passage of the
anti-corruption legislation. Hoseah emphasized that he was
pleased that the legislation had been passed and predicted

that implementing regulations would be completed by July.
Hoseah told Reddick that the new bill would "sharpen the
PCB's teeth to prosecute corruption," and he outlined the
following key provisions:

-- Corruption Crimes: The bill increases the number of
corruption crimes from 4 to 24. Hoseah explained that the
PCB now had the jurisdiction to prosecute corruption
offenses in critical, new areas such as contracts,
procurement, fraud, etc.

-- Power of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP): The
bill limits the power of the DPP, mandating that he/she
decide within 60 days whether the PCB is authorized to
prosecute a given case or not. In the past, Hoseah noted,
the DPP could sit on a case for years and then decide not to
prosecute.

-- PCB's Independence: The bill states that the PCB is an
independent body that will provide annual reports to both
the President and Parliament. Hoseah explained that the
President's Office at State House would still be
responsible for allocating PCB's budget and that as
Director General, he would directly answer to the
President.

Parliament Debates PCB's Power to Prosecute
--------------

4. (SBU) Although Parliament passed the Anti-Corruption
bill four days after it was tabled, there was significant
debate among Members of Parliament (MPs) including
representatives from the ruling and opposition parties.
The official opposition member in Parliament, Civic United
Front's Hamad Rashid Mohammed, raised issue with the PCB's
lack of independence, arguing that the PCB needed power not
only to investigate but also to prosecute its suspects
without the DPP's authorization. To address the PCB-DPP
working relationship, some MPs suggested that there should
be a 60 day time limit for the DPP to decide on a case
brought by the PCB. Other Parliamentarians suggested that
the DPP should be obliged to give an explanation if he/she
decided a case should not be prosecuted. On April 17, the
only amendment endorsed by Parliament was to establish the
60 day time limit.

DAR ES SAL 00000677 002.2 OF 003



And Asks Why the Bill is Mute on Political Corruption
-------------- --------------

5. (SBU) In addition, MPs suggested that the Director
General of the PCB should not be appointed by the President
but rather proposed by a panel of judges and endorsed by
Parliament. Both CCM and CUF representatives also
criticized the bill's silence on combating corruption in
political parties. In response to Reddick's questions on
political corruption, Hoseah said that the Attorney General
was currently reviewing the 1985 electoral law and the 2000
law on political parties and that these laws would be
amended to address the issue of corruption in political
institutions and during election campaigns. "The Prime
Minister's Office felt that tackling political corruption
outside the scope of laws already in place would interfere
with
existing laws," Hoseah said.

Donors Recommend Measures to Increase PCB Independence
-------------- --------------

6. (SBU) While commending the Government of Tanzania (GOT)
on passage of the legislation, donors did raise several
issues with the Anti-Corruption bill. For example, the
Development Partners Working Group on Governance, which is
co-chaired by Denmark and the U.K., provided the GOT with a
set of comments on March 27, encouraging the GOT to address
areas of concern including the PCB's independence. To
ensure the PCB's autonomy, the Working Group recommended
that the legislation establish (i) a transparent and public
process to appoint PCB's senior officials; (ii) security of
tenure for the Director General of the PCB; and (iii)
safeguards on the powers and role of the DPP such as an
obligation to give reasons for his/her decision to
prosecute or not prosecute a given case.

And Increase Penalties
--------------

7. (SBU) In addition, the Working Group on Governance was
concerned with weak penalties including a five year maximum
term of imprisonment. Highlighting the UN Convention
Against Corruption, which requires states to ensure that
corruption offenses liable to sanctions 'take into account
the gravity of that offense,' the Working Group recommended
minimum fines and minimum terms of imprisonment and that
sanctions take into account the gravity of offenses.
Finally, the Working Group recommended that the bill focus
on measures to deter corruption such as civil forfeiture
and considerations on how to extend the provisions to
Zanzibar. (Note: Neither good governance nor
anti-corruption has been designated a "Union issue" and
therefore, the Anti-Corruption bill will not apply to
Zanzibar.)

Civil Society Argues for Greater Focus on Prevention
-------------- --------------

8. (SBU) To solicit the view of civil society on the
Anti-Corruption bill, Eunice Reddick and Poloff also met
with Rakesh Rajani, Executive Director of HakiElimu (a
local NGO focused on issues of transparency and education)
on April 25. Rajani noted similar concerns including the
lack of harsh penalties for corruption crimes (maximum 5
year imprisonment),and the PCB's need to obtain DPP
authorization to prosecute. Rajani's main concern,
however, was that the Anti-Corruption bill primarily
addressed prosecuting rather than preventing corruption.
"The section on prevention of corruption is about half a
page," Rajani said, adding, "worldwide studies reveal the
difficulty of attacking corruption after it has been
committed - after the horse has bolted."


9. (SBU) Rajani stressed that the GOT needs to focus in
the future on creating the conditions to deter corruption
such as increased informational requirements, institutional
incentives for whistleblowers, etc. Reddick noted that
there were a variety of simple mechanisms to reduce
opportunities for rent seeking which could be applied.
Summarizing his overriding view of the new bill,
Rajani stated, "The bill constitutes only a small part of
Tanzania's arsenal needed to fight corruption."

Vital PCB Cases and MCA Training:
--------------

10. (C) In addition to legislative improvements, the
Prevention of Corruption Bureau has begun investigating
several large corruption cases. Hoseah revealed that the

DAR ES SAL 00000677 003.2 OF 003


PCB was currently investigating three key cases: the
U.K.-Tanzanian radar case, the Richmond power contract, and
the Bank of Tanzania twin towers recently built in down town
Dar es Salaam. Hoseah only discussed the radar case in
detail, which he explained involved Tanzania's purchase of
a 28 million pound radar system from a British Aerospace
company (BAE). He told Reddick the deal involved a 31
percent commission which was dispersed through Barclays
bank and deposited into a Swiss bank account. Without
mentioning names, Hoseah said that the scandal was big and
could involve officials at the highest levels of the
military and Ministry of Defence. As during our previous
meeting with Hoseah (reftel),he expressed concern for his
personal security and informed us that he had 24 hour
security at his residence.


11. (C) In investigating these large scale corruption
cases, Hoseah noted that the new bill would empower the PCB
since the law was linked to the Procurement Act. He
emphasized, however, that training for the judiciary branch
would be critical. Judges must be aware and understand the
implications of the(nes"f~gtpHELeybdnQMQ^Q+U
2Q," Hoseah told Reddick, "it is that MCA is making a
difference."

Comment:
--------------

12. (SBU) The Anti-Corruption bill is significant in that
it expands the PCB's jurisdiction to include corruption in
crucial areas such as procurement. As Hoseah told Reddick,
"Where there is big procurement, there is big corruption."
Passage of the legislation demonstrates President Kikwete's
commitment to corruption and his ability to ensure the
executive branch follows his lead. In Post's view, the
bill will help to sharpen the PCB's teeth and further
Kikwete's anti-corruption campaign. Yet, because the
Prevention of Corruption Bureau remains under the authority
of the President, and its prosecution powers limited by the
DPP, how hard the PCB can bite in years to come will depend
almost entirely on political will within the President's
Office. END COMMENT.
RETZER