CAG: I am ready to appear before house committee

Controller and Auditor General (CAG) Mussa Assad yesterday said he will appear before the parliamentary Privileges, Ethics and Powers Committee in Dodoma next Monday. 

The CAG statement came few hours after the National Assembly Speaker Job Ndugai maintained his summon to Professor Assad, insisting that he was an officer of parliament. 

Professor Assad said he was respecting the national assembly, maintaining that the National Audit Office (NAOT) and the legislature were in good working relations and that he could not defy the speaker’s call.

Addressing reporters in Dodoma last week, Mr Ndugai summoned the CAG to appear before his committee over his recent remarks against the legislature, insisting that any reluctance would prompt arrest. 

While abroad recently, Prof Assad was quoted by one of the foreign radio stations as saying, “Tanzanian parliament is weak.” 

There has been a raging debate in the media since then over Mr Ndugai’s constitutional mandate to summon the NAOT boss, with opposition ACT-Wazalendo Party National Leader Zitto Kabwe spearheading the criticisms against the speaker. 

Mr Ndugai, speaking to reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday, insisted that Professor Assad has to travel to Dodoma for intensive grilling by the committee. 

“I have spoken to my colleagues in Kampala (Uganda) and Nairobi (Kenya) over Mr Zitto’s remarks…their response was that the opposition party’s stance is a big fact lie,’’ said Mr Ndugai, adding that it was improper for the leader like Zitto to tell lies to the public. 

Speaker Ndugai argued that NAOT officials were equally parliamentary officers and the CAG is one of them, wondering if the CAG can refuse to appear before the committee for interrogation. 

Mr Ndugai, speaking on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) meeting in Dar es Salaam, said he could have taken measures against the CAG but he had to give him opportunity to defend himself. The speaker launched yet another scathing attack on Zitto who has been defending Professor Assad, citing a constitutional lacuna over the summons. 

The ACT Wazalendo leader attempted to impede the parliament from grilling the CAG, seeking the corridors of justice but in vein. The High Court refused to admit a constitutional petition in which Zitto and other leaders from opposition parties sought to file the case against the move by Speaker Ndugai against the CAG.

However, Prof Assad defended his comments yesterday, saying his response to a question by a foreign media had no intension of humiliating the parliament. 

“The words, weaknesses and deficiencies are commonly used by auditors in their reports on the systems and various government institutions,’’ he told reporters, saying there is no any cause for alarm.