Tanzania in 2008

Most political attention was focused on various high-level cases of alleged corruption, leading to the unprecedented resignation of the prime minister and of several ministers. No solution was found to the long-simmering political confrontation in Zanzibar, and new strains emerged in the union between ’s mainland and Zanzibar. Despite signs of the government’s growing unpopularity, the control of President and his long-ruling ‘’ (CCM, Party of the Revolution) was never seriously in dispute. As AU chairman for most of the year, Kikwete assumed an active role in pan-African affairs. Macroeconomic performance continued to be fairly satisfactory, although the population enjoyed little direct improvement in its living standards.

Domestic Politics

Continuing efforts to fight endemic corruption were a major political issue throughout the year. In early February, the country was shocked by the surprising resignation of Prime Minister and two ministers in connection with serious corruption allegations arising from the scandal popularly known as the ‘Richmond-Saga’. Richmond, a reputedly US-based power supply company, had in 2006 been contracted during an energy crisis to deliver power gen- erators, but failed to fulfil the contract. On 6 February, the report of a parliamentary commission, established in November 2007 and chaired by MP , was presented to parliament. It stated that Richmond was registered neither in the US nor in Tanzania and appeared to have been a mere dummy company and that the whole bidding process had been marred by corruption and gross irregularities. Lowassa was openly accused of having person- ally selected Richmond among eight other bidders, and thus being

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004407879_006 tanzania in 2008 65 responsible for what was called a “shameful act”. He was called on to face the consequences. The report also accused East African Cooperation Minister Ibrahim Msabaha, who had been energy and minerals minister when the Richmond deal was made, and his suc- cessor, Nazir Karamagi, of having been directly involved in the dubi- ous affair. Edward Hosea, director of the Prevention and Combat of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), was accused of covering up the deal by publishing a whitewash report on the issue. Mwakyembe’s report also demanded the sacking of Attorney-General Johnson Mwanjika for failing to properly advise government on the various irregulari- ties. The following day, Lowassa and the two ministers announced their resignations, but insisted on their innocence. Kikwete accept- ed the resignations and, as required by the constitution, dissolved the cabinet. Since the prime minister’s resignation was an unprecedented oc- currence, Tanzania experienced its severest government crisis since the early 1980s. Public opinion, however, was positively disposed to- wards the resignations as a long awaited step forward in the effort to fight grand corruption instead of chasing only small fish. Kikwete was widely lauded for not having protected the prime minister, one of his closest political allies for many years. Not only were the resig- nations unprecedented, but also the frankness of the report and the fact that high-ranking persons had been named. This new approach was generally welcomed and favourably compared with the way in which allegations of grand corruption had been dealt with under Kikwete’s predecessor . Suggestions of reintroduc- ing some form of ‘leadership code’ (reminiscent of the Nyerere-era) and of more clearly separating the political and business arenas were, however, not followed up. Some critics doubted whether Lowassa’s resignation was indeed a victory for the rule of law over the personal interests of high- ranking politicians. Since Kikwete’s and Lowassa’s presidential campaigns in 2005 had reportedly been extremely costly, it was ar- gued the Richmond deal may have been finalised to obtain funds