Sitta: Wabunge wa upinzani wanafiki

WAZIRI wa Ushirikiano wa Afrika Mashariki, Samuel Sitta, amesema mambo mengi ya wapinzani ni ya kinafiki na wamekuwa wakiibeza Serikali kwa kauli nyepesi nyepesi.

Sitta alitoa kauli hiyo jana bungeni mjini Dodoma alipokuwa akijaribu kutuliza Bunge lililokuwa limechafuka baada ya Mbunge wa Kigoma Kusini, David Kafulila (NCCR-Mageuzi), kudai kuwa Serikali iliyoko madarakani ni legelege na imeshindwa kukusanya kodi.

"Nawasihi wenzangu hasa wa CCM, hawa wapinzani hii (kupinga mambo) ndiyo kazi yao, wanabeza kila tunachofanya kwa lugha nyepesi nyepesi na mambo mengi wanayozungumza ni unafikinafiki hivi, sisi tuwaachie wananchi wawahukumu.

Kauli hiyo ilisababisha baadhi ya wabunge hasa wa upande wa upinzani kusimama na kuomba mwongozo wa Mwenyekiti na wengine wakizomeana, huku Sitta ambaye ni Kaimu Kiongozi wa Shughuli za Serikali Bungeni, akiwa amesimama akiomba kuendelea.

"Subirini nitoe mfano ... wanazungumza posho za vikaoni ni kuibia wananchi na baadhi yao wamekuwa wabunge kwa miaka mitano iliyopita na walikuwa wakizichukua, kama kweli ndivyo hivyo, basi warudishe," alisema Sitta.

Kauli hiyo ilisababisha wabunge zaidi, karibu 10 wakiwamo wa CCM kusimama kuomba Mwongozo wa Mwenyekiti, lakini Mwenyekiti Jenista Mhagama akaahirisha shughuli za Bunge kwa mapumziko ya mchana, kwa kuwa muda ulikuwa umefika, huku akiwaacha wabunge wakipiga kelele za kuomba Mwongozo.

Kabla ya kuibuka tafrani hiyo, Kafulila aliyekuwa akichangia hotuba ya Makadirio ya Matumizi ya Wizara ya Afya na Ustawi wa Jamii, alisema tangu Uhuru moja ya maadui waliopigwa vita ni maradhi; lakini akashangaa bajeti ya Afya ni ndogo na kuongeza kuwa inatokana na Serikali legelege kushindwa kukusanya mapato.

"Miaka 50 ya Uhuru asilimia 90 ya bajeti ya maendeleo ya afya inategemea fedha za nje, tatizo hamkusanyi kodi na Nyerere (Baba wa Taifa) alisema Serikali legelege inashindwa kukusanya kodi," alisema Kafulila.

Kauli hiyo ilipingwa na Mbunge wa Nzega, Dk. Hamisi Kigwangala (CCM) aliyesema Kafulila alitumia neno la kuudhi kwa kuiita Serikali ya CCM legelege.

Dk. Kigwangala alifafanua kuwa Kafulila hakuwa na taarifa sahihi, kwa kuwa katika miaka mitatu iliyopita, Serikali ilikuwa ikikusanya karibu Sh bilioni 200, lakini mpaka mwaka huu, makusanyo yaliongezeka na kufikia karibu Sh bilioni 400.

Baada ya ufafanuzi huo, Mwenyekiti wa Bunge, Mhagama alimtaka Kafulila kufuta usemi, lakini mbunge huyo alipinga akisema ni kauli ya Baba wa Taifa, ambaye kila mtu anamuenzi bila kujali anatoka chama gani.

"Tunapoteza muda kujadili suala ambalo liko wazi, mwaka 2005/06 Serikali ilikuwa ikikusanya wastani wa Sh bilioni 260 lakini dola moja ilikuwa sawa na Sh 1,000.

"Leo mnakusanya karibu Sh bilioni 400 kwa mwezi, dola moja ni Sh 1,600 ni hesabu rahisi, hakuna kilichoongezeka ... sifuti usemi, niko tayari kufia ukweli huu," alisema Kafulila na kusababisha Sitta kuamka na kuwaita wapinzani wanafiki huku akiwataka CCM kuwavumilia.

Hata hivyo, Mwalimu Nyerere alisema chama legelege huzaa Serikali legelege na pia aliwahi kusema "Serikali corrupt (inayokula rushwa) hushindwa kukusanya kodi," na si Serikali legelege hushindwa kukusanya kodi.

Awali, kabla ya tafrani hiyo, Kafulila alimtaka Waziri wa Afya na Ustawi wa Jamii, Dk. Hadji Mponda, ikibidi ajiuzulu kuliko kukubali kuwasilisha bajeti ya fedha ndogo bungeni huku ikitegemea fedha nyingi za wahisani.

Alisema hiyo inatokana na wabunge na familia zao kuwa na uwezo wa kutibiwa sehemu yoyote ndani na nje ya nchi, ndiyo maana hawawekezi katika hospitali za vijijini.

Wakati akisema hayo, mmoja wa wabunge ambaye hakufahamika lakini mwanamke, aliwasha kipaza sauti akasema: "Pamoja na wewe (Kafulila) na Mbunge wa Mpanda Mjini Chadema (Said Arfi ambaye alilazwa India hivi karibuni)."

Hata hivyo Waziri wa Nchi Ofisi ya Waziri Mkuu, Uwekezaji na Uwezeshaji, Dk. Mary Nagu, alisimama na kupinga kauli ya Kafulila, akisema: "Hili ni Bunge Tukufu, tuzungumze kwa heshima."

Mbunge mwingine mwanamume akawasha kipaza sauti na kuhoji: "Nani ana heshima?" Nagu akaendelea kufafanua kuwa mwanawe ni daktari katika Hospitali ya Taifa ya Muhimbili ambayo ni ya Serikali na hata baba yake mzazi alilazwa katika hospitali ya Katesh ambayo ni ya vijijini.

Hata hivyo, sauti ile ya kiume iliendelea kumkatisha Nagu na safari hii Mbunge huyo alisema, "so what(kwa hiyo?"

Kutokana na kauli hizo za kukatishana, Mhagama alisimama na kusema ameisikiliza sauti ya mmoja wa wabunge wanaotoa kauli hizo za kejeli huku akimkatisha waziri aliyekuwa akizungumza na kubaini kuwa sauti hiyo inafanana na ya Mbunge wa Nyamagana, Ezekia Wenje (Chadema).

Alionya kuwa wanachofanya wabunge kuwasha vipaza sauti holela ili kuzuia hoja za wenzao kusikika au kuwakatiza, ni kinyume na Kanuni za Bunge na akifuatilia anaweza kuwabaini na kuwachukulia hatua.

Enough of empty talk on electricity, say MPs

The time for promises, explanations and excuses for the longstanding power problems is over, MPs told the government yesterday. Speaking during a seminar for MPs organised by the Energy and Minerals ministry, parliamentarians said the government should immediately accord the crisis the urgency it deserves.

They made this observation even as Energy minister William Ngeleja promised that electricity rationing would ease this week when Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) starts supplying an additional 90MW into the national grid.

IPTL currently generates about 10MW of its installed capacity of 100MW, but Mr Ngeleja told journalists the Treasury had released funds for the purchase of more fuel that would enable the company to operate at full capacity.

Earlier during the seminar on the state of electricity generation, MPs told the government that Tanzanians were fed up with “explanations, excuses, theories, promises and grandiose plans”, adding that what they wanted was reliable power supply.

“We’re not interested in your PowerPoint presentations or grand-sounding plans. What we want is electricity and we want it now! Your expertise or your education is useless to us if you cannot find ways to solve the power problems once and for all,” Mr George Simbachawene (Kibakwe-CCM) told experts from Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco), who made presentations during the seminar.

Mr Simbachawene accused Mr Ngeleja of having done nothing to improve power generation since he was given the energy portfolio three years ago.

Briefing reporters earlier, Mr Ngeleja could not state by how many hours rationing would be reduced, or even say when IPTL would switch on the rest of its generators.  He said Tanesco would issue more information any time from today.

“What I can tell you is that by August, this year, we expect to increase power production through Symbion from the current 80MW to 112.5 MW, and from Aggreko we expect to get 100MW. This will reduce the shortage that has necessitated rationing,” Mr Ngeleja said.

As usual, the minister mentioned some of the government’s plans to eaddress the crisis in the next few months, saying a 100MW gas plant and 60MW heavy furnace oil generators would be commissioned in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, respectively, before the end of the year, taking the total addition of power to the national grid between now and December to 192.5MW.

However, Tanesco managing director William Mhando said rationing might continue until 2014/15 when power generation would be enough to end load shedding.
“We can only avoid rationing when there is a generation surplus of 15 per cent of installed capacity. We call this the reserve margin or reserve spin margin. We will reach this in the 2014/15 financial year,” he said.

On the state of hydropower generation, Mr Ngeleja told reporters that the water level at the Mtera dam had reached 690.87 metres above sea level by Saturday.  The level is expected to have dropped to the minimum of 690 metres by August, and this will force the shutdown of the Mtera and Kidatu stations, which currently produce 33MW and 40MW, respectively.
“We can only continue generating at these two stations at 688 metres if the government permits us as it did in 2008,” Mr Mhando told MPs.

He added that Tanesco was in talks with the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) to find ways to increase tariffs, which were “too low to meet power generation and supply costs”.
“We are now buying a unit of electricity for 12 US cents, but we are selling at eight US cents only, and to make matters worse, over 70 per cent of our revenue goes into purchasing electricity from companies that provide us only 30 per cent of the total power supplied,” Mr Mhando said.

Mr David Kafulila (Kigoma South-NCCR-Mageuzi) advised the government to revise power purchase agreements with independent power producers (IPPs) so that Tanesco only pays when it does not buy power generated by the companies.  Tanesco currently pays capacity charges even when it buys power from IPPs.  Mr Mhando and Mr Ngeleja said the suggestion would be considered.
“We began revising these capacity charges two years ago, and we are now saving about $1 million (Sh1.5 billion) monthly,” Mr Ngeleja said.

Mr Kafulila also advised the government to charge power contribution fees on mobile phone airtime at the rate of Sh27 per minute, adding that this could earn Tanesco Sh3 trillion in five years. Both the ministry and Tanesco accepted the advice.

Mr Augustine Mrema (Vunjo-TLP) wanted to know why the government had agreed to buy electricity generated by Dowans plants that were bought by Symbion, while the same government refused to allow Tanesco to buy the generators.

“We were told that the plants were in a poor condition, that they were second-hand, and so Tanesco could not buy them, but when the Americans came, they bought the same, and we are now being told that they are in a very good condition and will help the country. Why? What is going on here?” Mr Mrema queried.
Mr Ngeleja appealed to MPs to forget the Dowans issue, saying it was “mired in politics”.

“I was the one who proposed the purchase of the plants to the government at $59.7 million, but that is now history. The good thing is that we can now still buy electricity from the same plants,” Mr Ngeleja said.