Pinda to outline action on Richmond culprits

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda is set to unveil on Thursday a report on execution of 23 House recommendations on the Richmond power generation scandal. Speaker of the National Assembly Samwel Sitta told Parliament yesterday that Pinda would give the report a day before the budget session comes to an end. The wananchi are eager to know what the government has done to implement the proposals. The House Select Committee, chaired by the Kyela MP Harrison Mwakyembe, presented its findings early this year. It implicated former prime minister Edward Lowassa, who together with two ministers former Minister for Energy and Minerals, Nazir Karamagi and East African Co-operation minister Dr Ibrahim Msabaha had to resign. Mizengo Pinda replaced Lowassa in a subsequent cabinet reshuffle. The report also suggested disciplinary measures to be taken against a number of government officers who were implicated in the scandal. The government thereafter formed a task force to work on suggestions of the select committee early this year. Earlier, Speaker of the National Assembly Samwel Sitta had formed the probe committee after Members of Parliament demanded to know reasons that drove the government to enter into a flawed power generation deal. Richmond Development Corporation secured the contract in 2006 when the country experienced power shortage due to acute drought that dried up power generating dams.