Tundu Lissu Best Contributor in House

Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)

Alvar Mwakyusa

28 April 2011

THE Singida East Member of Parliament, Mr Tundu Lissu, was undeniably the best contributor during the just ended parliamentary session in Dodoma. The vocal MP hardly leaves any stone unturned when it gets to serious business.

“I take my time to read everything that I am supposed to, members of parliament from CCM hardly read anything,” boasts the MP in an interview with some few reporters in his office in Dodoma. It is almost 8:30pm on Friday evening (April 15, 2011) and the MP is still as energetic as if he had just woken up.

Forget his seriousness and boldness inside the National Assembly, outside he is just a socializing fellow. As he leads a team of three journalists upstairs to his office on the second floor of the Bunge Administration block, the lawyercum- politician make several stops to greet fellow MPs and other people on the way.

Opposite to the office of the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly is the office of the Chief Whip of the Opposition, Mr Lissu. In his office he dwells on a number of issues including the Constitutional Review Bill of 2011 and other bills that were presented to the house. “As a Chief Whip I am paid an allowance of 100,000/- each month and therefore I have to work hard to account for that.

Not only that, I have to work for the betterment of my electorate in Singida East and Tanzanians in general,” he said. On that Friday evening, the MP had given hard time to the Attorney General, Mr Fredrick Werema, turning the House in a two-man show.

Literally, the MPs in the House remained observers as Mr Lisu and Mr Werema argued on the proposed Judiciary Administration Bill of 2011. In reality, had it not been for the fact that CCM legislators outnumber their counterparts from the opposition, that bill would not have passed as it was.

Mr Tundu had a number of objections to some sections but all pleas fell on deaf ear. “The CCM lawmakers are not being reasonable. Rejecting a good proposal just because it has been made by an MP from the opposition is not productive, however, at the end the people will tell which is which,” he lamented.

On the second day on Saturday (April 16, 2011), the debate on the bill resumes in the house and determined MP is not giving up. At the end, the Judiciary Administration Bill of 2011 was passed by the National Assembly. The proposed bill seeks to establish a Judiciary Fund and Chief Court Administrator to oversee administration of the judiciary.

Mr Lissu made several objections to some provisions of the bill especially on that the qualifications of the court administrator and inclusion of District and Regional Commissioners in Judiciary Ethics Committees countrywide. According to Section 7 (3) of the Bill, the Chief Court Administrator, to be appointed by the President, must be a person who has assumed a high-ranking position in the public service with a background in administration and finance.

However, Mr Lissu was of a view that the administrator should also possess knowledge of law to be able to go about his/her activities smoothly. The Attorney General, Mr Fredrick Werema, maintained that the knowledge on law will be an added advantage and not necessarily a provision for the post.

During the debate, while Tundu stood almost single handedly, he was tackled by Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Ms Celina Kombani, AG Werema, East African Cooperation Minister, Mr Samuel Sitta and former AG who is now Bariadi West MP, Mr Andrew Chenge. They all threw their weight to ensure that Mr Lissu’s arguments do not go through.

At the end of the debate, the Speaker of the House, Ms Anne Makinda, showered praise on the MP for taking the government to task. “I am congratulating you Mr Lissu because you have done your homework on the subject. This is how MPs should work,” Ms Makinda told the MP before the house.

While debating the bill, Mr Lissu also argued that problems associated to the judiciary in the country are due to shortage of funds rather than administration. Contributing to the bill earlier, the leader of opposition in the House, Mr Freeman Mbowe (Hai- Chadema) said judicial officials in the country are being utilized by an average of 71 per cent.

He noted that out of 30 sessions that were expected to be attended by the Court of Appeal during financial year 2010/11, only 18 were covered while in the high court only 214 out of 432 sessions were covered. “The situation at district courts is not good as well. Magistrates in such courts attended to only 27,000 sessions out of the planned 110,000 sessions whereas at primary courts of the 132,000 sessions only 69,232 were attended to,” he explained.

However, Ms Celina Kombani said some three months have remained before the elapse of the current financial year and therefore the number of sessions to be attended to will improve. “The statistics cited by Mr Mbowe are correct but we still have some three months before the year elapses and I am optimistic that the cases will be solved during the remaining time,” she explained.

He decried meager budgets extended to the judiciary each financial year, noting that the tendency was tantamount to denying justice to majority of Tanzanians. He noted that out of 152bn/- asked by the judiciary department during the financial year 2010/11, only 29bn/- was disbursed.

There was a heated debate in the house on section 46 of the bill which proposes establishment

of Regional Judiciary Ethics Committee to be headed by District and Regional Commissioners. Section 47, (1) (a) stipulates that the committee will deal with judicial officials serve for judges of the courts of appeal and high court as well as principal judge.

Mr Lissu was of a view that by allowing District and Regional Commissioners to chair such committees, there is likelihood for the judiciary to be scrapped of its independence. Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda amused many in the house when he voted in support of Mr Lissu after the speaker decided to conduct an open ballot on the subject.

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