Court bars IPTL saga debate in Parliament

The National Assembly may likely no longer debate the protracted saga over the controversial Tegeta escrow account scandal reports this week, after all.

The lawmaking body had planned to deliberate on the much-talked-about issue for three days running from today, but two of the parties to the saga yes
terday sought – and were granted – a High Court injunction effectively putting the debate on hold.

The parties in question are VIP Engineering and Pan African Energy.

The injunction, issued by the High Court of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam Zone), stands at least until the court hears the main case on the matter on December 8.

The High Court granted the injunction yesterday after being satisfied with arguments in the application by Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL) and its subsidiary, Pan African Power, which was filed under the certificate of urgency No.  51/2014.

The application was filed by IPTL counsel Joseph Makandege, Gabriel Mnyele and Felician Kay and heard by a panel of three judges – Radhia Sheikh, Richard Mziray and Lugano Mwandambo.

They counsel argued that the court should bar the National Assembly from deliberating on the Tegeta Escrow Account report prepared by the Controller and Auditor General’s Office since the House’s only mandate was lawmaking.

They said publicly discussing matters being dealt with in court would amount to interfering with the duties and responsibilities of another arm – in this case, the Judiciary.

The IPTL lawyers admitted in the application that the National Assembly was legally and constitutionally at liberty to discuss such issues but only when the issues are still solely in the lawmaking House.

John Joel, Director of Parliamentary Affairs in the National Assembly, said when contacted for comment yesterday evening that the Speaker’s Office had not received any official communication on the said High Court injunction.

However, he said the National Assembly was an independent arm of the State just like the Judiciary and its activities cannot be interfered with by any court of law.

Singida East legislator Tundu Lissu, a lawyer, said he was “astonished” with the High Court ruling “because it is a decision that interferes with the National Assembly’s autonomy and independence”.

Earlier in the day, National Assembly Speaker Anne Makinda was emphatic that no one could bar the lawmaking body from performing its constitutional duties, assuring parliamentarians that the eagerly awaited debate on the Tegeta Escrow Account saga would begin today and continue for three consecutive days.

Within the past few days reports circulated alleging that the IPTL and Pan African Power (PAP) were seeking an injunction to ban the parliament from deliberating on the Controller Auditor General (CAG) report on the graft charges on the Tegeta Escrow Account.

“No one is going to stop us from executing our parliamentary duties. You don't have to be worried because our parliamentary immunities are very clear,” the Speaker stated.

However, she was quick to express concerns that she was yet to receive an official letter from Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Zitto Kabwe, to inform her office that the committee had finished its duty.

PAC was assigned to scrutinise the Controller and Auditor General’s (CAG) probe report on the controversy surrounding the Tegeta Escrow account.
Zitto Kabwe late last week announced that his committee had finished scrutinising the report and was ready to table it any time.

The Speaker warned that failure to receive the official letter from PAC would mean that there would be no debate on the saga in the House, adding that the CAG’s report would be distributed to the MPs before it was tabled.

“The CAG’s report will not be tabled word for word but will be used for terms of reference purposes when debating the PAC report. Tabling both reports will complicate things and it's likely that the MPs will not be able to debate the PAC report,” she explained.

Speaker Makinda noted that though the report will be distributed to MPs, it is not to be left on the legislators’ pigeonholes, explaining that the move is meant to keep unauthorized personnel from accessing it.

However the Speaker confirmed reports that there were attempts to file an injunction to prevent the report from being debated by MPs.

Earlier, Bariadi MP John Cheyo (UDP) expressed concern over the tendency of rushing to judiciary organ seeking injunction to prevent the parliament from debating matters that concern them.

“My concern is… we have a legislative whose duties can be thwarted at anytime by other organs, this is not good,” said Cheyo.

In addition, Ubungo MP John Mnyika (Chadema) said the miscellaneous civil application No 50/2014 injunction was filed at the High Court on Monday by Pan African Power.

He said the respondents undersigned included the Prime Minister’s Office, CAG, Director General Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Permanent Secretary Ministry of Energy and Minerals and PAC.

“Madam Speaker, please we want to be assured that the debate will stay intact,” said Mnyika.

The Speaker assured that all outstanding cases related to IPTL filed at the High Court have no connection to the saga.