Saturday, July 16, 2011

Why Did He Quit?

I dont know Jack either,( I was as puzzled as you were) but as the Wayward press put it...
Mr. Aziz, a successful businessman reputed to be one of the richest man in Tanzania, was first elected to parliament in 1994 at the age of 26, the youngest MP of his class. He soon became a rising star within CCM and during the 2005 general election he reportedly helped fund President Jakaya Kikwete’s landslide victory, a role that is believed to have cemented his position as a hugely influential figure in the party.
But in recent years, he has increasingly become a controversial figure. He isalleged to have been involved in the Richmond electricity deal that led to theresignation of Prime Minister Edward Lowassa (although it should be noted that in 2009 the High Court of Tanzania ordered the weekly Kiswahili paperMwanaHalisi to award damages to the tune of approximately US$2,240,000 to Mr. Aziz for ‘alleging that he was the one who brought Richmond, a USA-based company, to Tanzania.’) In 2009, he was involved in a very public spat with Reginald Mengi, the Executive Chairman of IPP Group, after the latter accusedhim of being corrupt. Recently, reports that he had the power of attorney over Dowans Tanzania, the ‘successor company to Richmond,’ revived accusationsthat he was linked with the scandal-plagued project from the beginning.
Nevertheless, his decision to resign from his parliamentary seat came as a huge shock. It is still unclear what, exactly, happened. Was he compelled to resign or as, he implies in his speech, staying in ‘gutter politics’ was simply becoming untenable as it started to negatively affect his business interests? 
Read it in Full here 

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