Ballali bows out:
Cites major health reasons
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| BoT Governor, Mr. Daudi Balali |
Dar es Salaam
THE long-beleaguered governor of the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), Dr Daudi Ballali, has resigned.
Government sources confirmed to THISDAY yesterday that Ballali quietly tendered his resignation letter to President Jakaya Kikwete on Wednesday this week, citing serious health reasons.
’’The governor cites complications in his medical condition following major surgery as the main reason for his resignation,’’ a source said, adding: ’’It is expected that the president will accept his resignation without too much ado’’.
According to other government sources, Ballali is understood to have met with Mr Kikwete during the president’s latest trip to the United States hardly a week ago.
The erstwhile central bank supremo, whose resignation after seven years at the helm comes on the back of a raft of corruption allegations against him, has reportedly been undergoing treatment at a hospital in Boston, US for the past three months-plus.
He is reported to have left the country for the States before the start of a special audit on the BoT, ordered in the wake of suspicions of serious improprieties in the external payment arrears account.
For the better part of this year, Ballali had been battling against allegations of personal involvement in the apparently massive funds misuse at the BoT.
He has also faced increasingly-loaded questions over issues like the ever-ballooning costs of the BoT Twin Towers construction project; excessive legal fees paid out by BoT amounting to billions of shillings; and hefty but dubious payments to the now-defunct Meremeta Gold Mine Company Limited, Tangold, Mwananchi Gold Company and the Alex Stewart Asseyers audit firm.
But at a news conference in Dar es Salaam back in July, he declared that the allegations against him were ’’malicious lies and fabrications’’, while steadfastly refusing to step down as governor.
There are reports that the Controller and Auditor-General, Ludovick Utuoh, will soon be submitting to the government the much-awaited BoT external payment arrears account audit report.
The government has been under growing pressure from its various development partners to act on the widespread allegations of corruption at the BoT and elsewhere. Some partners have also publicly threatened the government with delays in disbursement of aid if decisive action was not taken in this regard.
There was no immediate comment from State House or the Ministry of Finance on Ballali’s reported resignation.
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