PRESIDENT: "IMPOUNDED TANZANIA PLANE RELEASED"

Mwanza, TANZANIA

President of Tanzania, John Magufuli, has said today that national carrier- Air Tanzania’s aircraft Bombardier Q400 that was impounded in Canada in November this year before it could be delivered to Tanzania has been released.

The plane is among new planes procured by the government for the national carrier - Air Tanzania Corporation Limited.

Speaking at the ruling party’s National Executive Committee sitting in Mwanza, Magufuli said the aircraft would be received in Mwanza on a date that is yet to be announced.

The President, however, did not excavate into the details that led to the release of the aircraft that was impounded after, Hermanus Steyn, who was a farmer in Tanzania filed a claim in Canada.

According to Tanzania’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Palamagamba Kabudi, the seizure was because of a dispute between Tanzania and the South African farmer, Steyn “seeking compensation for a farm and other properties that was nationalized in the 1980s”.

Kabudi claimed that the plane was impounded after the farmer asked the Canadian authorities to impound the plane, pending a court case from which he is demanding the Tanzania government to pay him $33 million. He is demanding the money as a compensation following the government’s decision to seize his land back in 1980s.

The minister also expressed concerns over what he claimed as a tendency of Canadian authorities’ tendency of seizing Tanzania planes.

This was the third seizure incident of an Air Tanzania aircraft, in August; South African authorities impounded an Airbus 220-300 leased by Air Tanzania.  

With a court battle that ensued, the plane was later released after the Gauteng Lower Division court in Dar es Salaam ruled against the seizure.

In November 2017 President John Magufuli wrote to the Canadian Prime Minister in regard to the seizure of Tanzania-owned airplane, Bombardier Q400.

The airplane, which was supposed to be delivered in July, is being held in Canada after the Tanzanian government failed to pay $38 million (equal to Sh83 billion) owed to United Kingdom Stirling Civil Engineering Limited due to a contractual dispute.

The firm won the tender to construct the Wazo Hill-Bagamoyo Road but the government terminated the deal without paying compensation. 

The firm, successfully sued Tanzania at the International Court of Arbitration in Montreal Canada. 

The plane was later released but no details were revealed on what terms were entered between the two parts for the plane release. - Africa