Contractors warned against taking bribes

THE Minister for Energy and Minerals, Prof Sospeter Muhongo, has issued a stern warning to contractors and other officials involved in rural electrification projects against soliciting for bribes from villagers.

Villagers using Solar

Prof Muhongo sounded the warning in Dar es Salaam on Saturday when he met with the management of Rural Electrification Agency (REA), the contractors and Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) officials.

The meeting was to discuss, among other things, the implementation of the second phase plan to supply electricity to 14 regions in the country planned to kick off in March, this year.

“All the officials involved in the REA projects have recently been accused of asking for bribes,” he observed, adding that his ministry has received reports from villagers concerning the contractors and other officials asking for bribes from the villagers in order to be connected to electricity.

He said that the government has included the cost in the contracts with the exception of 27,000/- that villagers ought to provide in order to be connected.

According to Prof Muhongo, the payments should be given to TANESCO officials during the implementation period. “It is upon you (contractors) to be careful by ensuring that all your staff who are undertaking the projects are clean,” he added, saying that contractors found to be soliciting for bribes will be disqualified from competing for any tenders in the future.

In line with the call, Prof Muhongo asked officials to stop being authoritative and harsh to villagers, but instead collaborate with regional leaders and TANESCO zonal managers when implementing the projects.

“I am told that some of the contractors are completely unknown to regional, district and local leaders, they only go to them when they have problems,” he said. Prof Muhongo also asked the contractors to ensure they complete their tasks as scheduled, saying that whoever will fail to deliver on time will be disqualified immediately.

He asked TANESCO officials to closely monitor and evaluate the work by contractors and materials to be used by the contractors in the implementation of the projects. Earlier, the REA Director General, Mr Lutengano Mwakahesya, told the minister that the implementation of second phase plan is scheduled to be completed in June 2015. The plan, according to Mwakahesya involves 15 large projects at the cost of 881b/-.

Source: @ Daily News