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minister in trouble over poll graft allegations

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A minister was among ten aspirants seeking nomination for the special parliamentary seat on the ruling Chama Chama Mapinduzi (CCM) women’s wing (UWT) ticket who were questioned yesterday over corruption allegations. 

Mrs Margaret Sitta, the minister for Community Development, Gender and Children, and nine other aspirants were arrested by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB). This happened after they reportedly bribed members of the UWT general meeting in Tabora Region.  

The Tabora regional PCCB deputy commander, Mr Bruno Rwenyagira, confirmed that Mrs Sitta and nine other UWT members were arrested on Monday night. 

Others questioned were Lucy Samuel Simwanza, Zabeth Kondolo, Catherine Sepetu, Mary Joseph, Cosmas Urio and Rashid Ramadhan Abdallah. He said upon inspection the suspects were found with seven brand new Nokia 1616 mobile phones in their handbags, empty envelopes and Sh1,015,000 cash. In Igunga, angry villagers suspected to be CCM zealots blocked a convoy of Igunga District CCM members, including incumbent MP, Rostam Aziz, demanding that he pulled out of the race. 

The incident occurred yesterday afternoon at Itumba village, situated 60km from Igunga town, when the convoy carrying eight contestants on the CCM ticket for the Igunga parliamentary seat was barred by the angry villagers from crossing the bridge over the Itumba river. 

Reports indicated that the villagers were reportedly angered by Mr Aziz because he had ignored paying attention to their social problems for the past ten years. 

They claimed that Mr Rostam had also failed to fulfil CCM’s election promises. They  listed them as including construction of a water dam and the Itumba-Igunga road as well as renovation of a primary and a secondary school in the area. 

Responding to the villagers’ complaints, Mr Aziz explained that efforts to construct the roads in the district had started and construction of the

Itumba River Bridge was completed recently. 

He added that plans were afoot to repair the road, but the Igunga district council was facing financial constraints. In the race for the Igunga parliamentary seat on the CCM ticket are Messrs Aziz, Mr Bakari Sospeter Kayanda, Jaffary Omary, Nathaniel Mboje, Mashauri David and Hamis Mapinda as well as Dr Dalaly Kafumu. 

Meanwhile, the PCCB commander in Mara Region, Mr Elias Nyororo, said his office has received many complaints from wananchi concerning bribery during the CCM primary poll campaigns and was working on them. 

In Mwanza Region, a total of 217 CCM members from Kirumba ward yesterday demonstrated against the decision by the party’s Ilemela district political committee to cancel 400 membership cards. 

The cancellation followed the committee’s declaration that cards with initials AD were fake, thus making their bearers not eligible to vote. 

However, some CCM members told The Citizen that their cards which were annulled by the CCM Ilemela district secretary were not fake and were used during the local government election last year. 

 The CCM chairman for Kirumba ward, Mr Rashid Malupo,  said if the cards were fake then the local government election in which the cards were used was also illegitimate as well as the leaders on the party’s ticket. 

He also wondered why the cards are being rejected now when they were accepted last year. 

The CCM acting secretary for Kirumba ward, Ms Sabina Haule, said there are barely three days to the polling day. This left suspicions that the decision was made in order to deprive some voters of their right to vote. 

In Shinyanga Region, the PCCB arrested a man and his wife for allegedly “donating” money to CCM members on behalf of an aspirant for the Bukombe parliamentary seat. 

The Shinyanga regional PCCB commander, Ms Reonada Ngaiza, yesterday said the two suspects were arrested on Monday night with Sh150,000 cash and several pairs of khanga which they were reportedly distributing to CCM members. 

In Musoma District, the CCM committee has suspended five ward leaders on allegations of campaigning for some parliamentary contestants on the party’s ticket. 

The Musoma rural district CCM secretary, Mr. Ferooz Bhano, said the decision was reached after the committee had discussed about them and found that they had breached party ethics. 

Reported by Frederick Katulanda (Mwanza), Beldina Nyakeke (Musoma), Herman Meza (Igunga), Shija Felician, Bukombe and Anna John (Musoma)

This entry was posted on 29/07/2010 at 01:49 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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