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Thursday, January 6, 2022

Tanzania Speaker resigns following misunderstanding with President over loans

By Our Correspondent, Dodoma Tanzania

Tanzania's National Assembly Speaker, Job Ndugai, on Thursday January 6 bowed to growing pressure for his resignation following his misunderstanding with President Samia Hassan over government's "excessive" borrowing.

He has been on the position since November 2015 until his resignation today after disagreeing with the President over a loan of 1.3 trillion and rising national debt. He is the first Speaker to resign in Tanzania's history.

The drama caught momentum  on Monday when the Speaker went public and apologised to the president for earlier saying that the country was in danger of being auctioned over its growing external debt burden.

Ndugai said he had not intended to “disrespect” the President and the executive.

He also claimed that the video clip of his remarks, that went viral on social media triggering a huge political backlash, had been “smartly edited” to misinterpret his core message of less dependence on external borrowing by his enemies.

The Speaker said his enemies were trying to use social media to “create an agenda out of nothing and attack the current administration by dragging me as the Speaker into it.”

In his resignation statement before the press today, Ndugai said he had already tendered a formal resignation letter to his ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) secretary general, copied to the Clerk of the National Assembly, to allow for the process of installing a new Speaker to begin.

“This is a personal and voluntary decision and I have made it with the wider interests of the nation, government and my party at heart.” He said. 

The move comes on the back of mounting pressure from CCM local leaders across the country throughout the week.

On December 27 last year, at a public rally in his Kongwa constituency in Dodoma, Ndugai questioned the country’s continued borrowing from external sources, saying it is not sustainable. He suggested that the country should instead borrow internally or base on taxes and levies.

Following his apology, President Hassan who seemed to refer to him  slammed those criticising her administration’s focus on seeking external loans to pay for development projects instead of sourcing the funds locally by raising domestic taxes and expanding internal revenue streams.

The President said her government would not be discouraged from prioritising external loans over domestic taxes as the quickest way to complete key projects already on track such projects as the Standard Gauge Railway (estimated to cost  7.5 billion USD) and Julius Nyerere Hydropower (estimated to cost 2.9 billion USD)

“There are people who thought these projects would ground to a halt so they would have something to say. That’s not going to happen. There is no country anywhere that doesn't borrow – even the so-called developed countries have bigger loan debts than ours. We will borrow, borrow and borrow in order to finish the projects we have started.” She said.

The President who is also the chairperson of the ruling party categorically stated that she no longer trusted Ndugai as a political ally in the face of divisive factions coming to the fore within CCM well ahead of the next general election in 2025.

                        courtesy

Amid the growing pressure from within the party for Ndugai to resign following this latest statement from the president, a growing number of outsiders were also calling for his protection under the universal principle of separation of powers.

“Since Ndugai heads the Legislature, which is primarily responsible for maintaining checks and balances on the Executive arm of government, his resignation over this particular matter would be setting a bad precedent,” said Edmund Msangi, a seasoned journalist and political commentator.

Ndugai’s resignation sets the stage for legislators to vote in a new Speaker when parliament begins its first session of 2022 in the capital Dodoma on February 1.

The House is presently dominated by the ruling CCM party. - Africa

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