In the run up to the 2010 General Election, Prof Anna Tibaijuka quit her high level UN job in Kenya to run for the Muleba South parliamentary seat on the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi’s ticket.
She faced a tough battle as the incumbent was Mr. Wilson Masilingi, a flamboyant former cabinet minister broadly considered one of the CCM political heavyweights. He won 2005 election with over 90 per cent of the vote and he was poised for a third five year term when Prof Tibaijuka and other challengers showed up
Former police boss
Also seeking to unseat Mr Masilingi was the Dar es salaam Special Police Zone Commander Alfred Tibaigana, who had earned a reputation as a no?nonsense commander credited with curbing crime in the commercial capital.That year’s Muleba South nomination primaries were among the hottest in the country. Prof Tibaijuka emerged on the top, effectively sending Mr Masilingi into the political wilderness. The opposition read the writing on the wall and decided to give the seat a wide berth and, from the time the primaries ended and the date of polling, Prof Tibaijuka was the Muleba South MP?elect. All she had to do was wait to be sworn in.In interviewed her for BBC Swahili after she swept the nomination primaries. She was ecstatic when we met at her Kibeta Hill home over?looking Bukoba town , telling me it was a big vote of confidence from her people and she would repay it with quality service. Predictably, President Jakaya Kikwete appointed her the Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlement in recognition of work as UN Under Secretary General and UN? Habitat Executive Director for a decade.
The year 2010 was crucial for politicians with ambitions beyond their immediate stations. That were so because President Kikwete was starting his second and constitutionally finally final term in office. In five years’ time, the presidency would be up for grabs I put it to her that the decision to leave the comfortable UN job and risk her career in the murky terrain of local politics was informed by an ultimate ambition to get to the highest office in the lands, to which she replied equivocally: “Well, for now my focus is on serving my people. Other things will come with time. Let us wait for the right time.”
If the country was ever going to elect a woman president, Prof Tibaijuka was certain one of the top contenders. Given a level playing ground, her qualifications and experience more than dwarfed any would be challenger, man or woman. It was no mean achievement that she was
twice elected by the UN General Assembly as UN Under Secretary General, a record that stands to date for an African woman. But now, just months to the next general election, Prof Tibaijuka is fighting for her political career and integrity and has very little time to campaign.
The escrow saga that was the reason for her recent dismissal from her ministerial post is the elephant in the room. She is accused of accepting Sh1.6bn from businessman James Rugemalira. She initially refused to resign, maintain she was innocent. She insisted she had received the money in behalf of Barbro Johansson Model Girls Secondary School on the outskirts of the city, which she founded 15 years ago. The school has over 700 students and she reportedly pay fees of more than 50 of them.
With the escrow saga dominating the headlines, the House pressuring the government and outspoken MPs demanding action, her voice was drowned in the heat of the moment.But many questions still beg answers. Why is it. For instance, that it was only the transactions channeled through the Roman Catholic Church?owned Mkombozi Bank that were publicized and not the ones through Stanbic Bank? Why were investigations not extended beyond those connected to Rugemalira, who made payments through the legally permissible way of Bank accounts to cover those who illicitly paid and received money in cash? Denies Wrongdoing The professor of agro?economics maintains that she is innocent. But the issue is political rather than legal. She will need to fight it politically if she is to keep alive her political ambitions.
The CITIZEN, Thursday 5 February 2015, pg 9
Opinion & Analysis
Will Escrow Saga Dent Tibaijuka’s Presidential Ambition?
By EMMANUEL MUGA
Emmanuel Muga is senior journalist and Advocate of the High Court. emugaus@gmail. com
