An excavator clears rubble at the site where a 16-storey building
collapsed at Indira Gandi Street in Dar es Salaam in Mach this year, in
which at least 36 people died. Seven months after the tragedy,
investigations are yet to be completed. PHOTO | FILE
By Bernard James, The Citizen
Posted Saturday, October 12 2013 at 08:30
Posted Saturday, October 12 2013 at 08:30
In Summary
Political leaders and government officials arrive to
join bemused and shocked onlookers milling around the scene as both
survivors and the dead are retrieved and rushed to hospital or the
morgue.
Dar es Salaam. A 10-storey building comes down
tumbling in a heap of rubble. Shortly after, sirens pierce the air as
medical and security teams rush to the scene to pull out victims buried
deep the bowels of hard concrete and steel.
Political leaders and government officials arrive
to join bemused and shocked onlookers milling around the scene as both
survivors and the dead are retrieved and rushed to hospital or the
morgue.
Orders from national leaders to thoroughly
investigate, arrest and prosecute those behind the disaster follow. In a
matter of days, the disaster area is cleared and fenced off. Scores of
people will be rounded up and charged in court.
Soon, though,it is business as usual. Justice will
be a long time coming--perhaps even allowing for a similar disaster to
strike again before the first one is sorted.
This is a rendition of true events right here at
home. Shockingly, however, no one has been brought to book or held
responsible five years after suspects were arraigned for the collapse of
the 10-storey building in Dar es Salaam.
The five accused in the 2008 disaster that claimed
the life of one man are free today after the court dismissed their case
without a hearing. For five years, the case failed to start over
incomplete investigations, ending up in the discharge of the accused in
February 2011.
For four years, the case was adjourned at least 60
times at Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court. Each time, prosecutors
told the court they were still investigating the case. In some
instances, according to court records, prosecutors pleaded for
adjournments simply because they did not come to court with the case
file.
After four years of dilly-dallying, Resident
Magistrate Devotha Kisoka dropped the matter in February last year and
declared the accused free. The magistrate cited article 107a of the
constitution, which prohibits delays in dispensing justice without
reasonable ground.
A younger brother of Hassan Nganoga, who died in
the 2008 disaster, said the family was shocked by the manner in which
prosecutors handled the case.
“We feel the delay was deliberate to frustrate
justice for reasons that can only be known to the police and
prosecutors,” he said this week. He appealed to the authorities to
re-open the case and investigate the police and prosecutors.
The Citizen learn that a case on the collapse of a
building early this year, in which 36 people were killed in Dar es
Salaam, could take a similar direction. Some 11 people have been charged
with manslaughter in this instance, also before the same magistrate in
Kisutu. It has been mentioned several times, with investigators citing
the same reason--delayed investigations.
Director of Criminal Investigations Robert Manumba
said he was not aware of the case. “Let’s do a follow-up to establish
what exactly happened to this case,” he added. “You know we have various
organs dealing with such cases.”
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
Soon after the disaster, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda directed
that those involved in the case be charged with grave negligence. A
commission was also formed to probe the cause of the disaster. He also
called for a special quality and quantity audit of all the buildings put
up by the firm that put up the structure.
Five years down the line, the report of an official inquiry into the collapse of the building has yet to be released.
Following the March 29 incident, President Jakaya
Kikwete visited the scene and said, apparently furious, that those
responsible must be punished. “Legal action must be taken against all
individuals behind this negligence,” he declared. “The municipal chief
engineer, the Ilala district chief inspector of buildings, the owner of
the building and whoever else is connected with the scam must face
justice.”
Seven months after the tragedy that shocked the nation, the case is stalled at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court.
Businessman Radha Hussein Ladha and 10 others are
charged with manslaughter and negligence. So are two officers at the
Architects and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board, Mr Albert Mnuo and
Mr Joseph Ringo.
The other accused are engineers Charles Ogape,
Zonazea Anage and Mohamed Abdukar and Mr Vedasto Ferdinand, a quantity
surveyor. Mr Michael Hemed, an architect and Businessmen Goodluck
Sylivester, Wilboard Mugabyaso and Ibrahim Kisoki.
Director of Public Prosecutions Eliezer Feleshi
declined to comment on the trend but Principal Judge Fakihi Jundu
confided that delays due to incomplete investigations have always given
the judiciary a difficult time.
He added: “It is a problem that is giving us a
hard time. We waste time and resources preparing for the hearing of
cases…how can it take five or six year to investigate a clear case?”
Mr Jundu said it was frustrating that the judiciary ended up being blamed for delays caused by police and the DPP’s office.
SOURCE: THE CITIZEN
