Tanzanian Association Oslo

A `convenient` death:

Questions abound

over burial arrangements,

cloak of secrecy, etc

THISDAY REPORTER

Dar es Salaam

(This article was added here Thursday, 22nd. May 2008)

THEY say dead people tell no tales. And few deaths could probably cause as much relief among some of this country’s powerful players as did the sudden - yet somewhat expected demise of former Bank of Tanzania (BoT) governor Daudi Timothy Said Ballali.

According to the reports from the United States, Ballali died quietly on Friday, with his death initially kept secret by close family members despite rumours surfacing since last week that he had already passed away.

There was confusion on where exactly he is reported to have died, whether in Washington DC as initial reports claimed, or in Boston, Massachusetts as stated in a BoT statement released in Dar es Salaam late yesterday.

According to information obtained exclusively by THISDAY, funeral arrangements have already been made for the ex-central bank supremo’s burial mass at the Saint Stephen Martyr Roman Catholic Church in the US capital at 10 am tomorrow.

However, no members of the public will be allowed to view Ballali’s body as the burial mass is planned to be a strictly private affair.

The US church where the private mass will be held is located at 2436 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC.

The funeral programme seen by THISDAY shows that Ballali will be laid to rest tomorrow morning at the Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery, following the Mass of Christian Burial at the church.

Confirmation of Ballali’s death has come against the backdrop of strong public sentiment that he was in a position to name big names much bigger than the handful of prominent businessmen so far identified - in relation to the embezzlement of over 133bn/- from the BoT’s external payment arrears (EPA) account during 2005/06.

This being the case, the timing of this confirmation - and sense of near-inevitability accompanying it - have fuelled new sparks of intense public speculation over the actual cause of his death, and suspicion in some quarters that he may not even be dead at all.

’’Why is Ballali’s funeral taking place privately in the US, instead of his body being brought back to Tanzania? Will he be buried or cremated?’’ These are just some of the questions being echoed by various people interviewed by THISDAY.

A well-placed source, who asked to remain anonymous so he may speak candidly, described the death reports as ’’highly suspicious.’’

’’Ballali was the person at the very centre of the EPA investigations, as well as a good number of other scandals at the Bank of Tanzania. Don’t you think his death may sound just a little too convenient?’’ the source queried, adding:

’’First of all, why was his supposed death made such a big secret since Friday? I for one also find it quite interesting that no one has officially made the death announcement to Tanzanians.’’

Some reports have suggested that the former governor may have been ’’poisoned’’ sometime around August last year, when he was summoned by a parliamentary committee to Dodoma to answer queries on a scathing BoT audit report by the Controller and Auditor General.

There are also suggestions that he may have left behind a ’dossier’ on the EPA scandal, and even identified the person behind his alleged poisoning.

Ballali’s last public appearance in the country was at a news conference he convened at the BoT’s Twin Towers headquarters in Dar es Salaam in July last year, at the height of corruption allegations swirling around him.

Using the news conference to shrug off growing calls for his resignation, the then central bank boss was later reported to have departed for the US to undergo medical treatment after reportedly experiencing severe abdominal pains while in Dodoma.

His departure coincided with the start of a special, government-ordered BoT audit that uncovered the EPA scandal and triggered a sequence of events that culminated in his final sacking from the governorship by President Jakaya Kikwete in January this year.

Since then, Ballali’s actual whereabouts and state of health have been a matter of constant public and media speculation, right up to the latest reported confirmation of his death.

According to information obtained by THISDAY earlier this month, a team of at least seven local investigators recently flew to the US on a mission to trace Ballali’s whereabouts, whether in Washington DC or Boston.

Ex-Governor Ballali

afariki dunia

Aliyekuwa gavana mkuu wa Benki Kuu ya Tanzania (BoT), Daudi Timoth S. Ballali amefariki. Habari za kufariki kwa ballali zilionekana mara ya kwanza kwenye mtandao wa wanajamii:

Aliyekuwa gavana mkuu wa Benki Kuu ya Tanzania (BoT), Daudi Timoth S. Ballali amefariki. Habari za kufariki kwa ballali zilionekana mara ya kwanza kwenye mtandao wa wanajamii:

http://www.jamiiforums.com

(ilikuwa ikijulikana kama jamboforums)

Kwa habari zenye uhakika toka kwa ndugu wa karibu na mkewe, Mama Anna Muganda zinatonya kuwa amefariki tarehe 16.05.2008 huko BOSTON, USA. Na mipango ya mazishi inafanywa kwa ndugu na jamaa wa marehemu.

R.I.P Daudi Ballali

Imetumwa na:

Jamaldeen T. Bin Mazar E. Shariff Ibn Zenjibari