Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on HIV/ AIDS and Narcotics yesterday demanded government explanations on action taken against suspected drug kingpins whose names were forwarded to retired President Jakaya Kikwete.
They said such illicit trade has put the country on edge despite efforts being taken to address the menace which adversely impacts on the country’s economy.
During the former president’s later years, he was quoted as saying he had a list of drug barons drizzling the country with illicit drugs that destroy youth, thus raising public anxiety on what would follow next.
Recent moves to control drug trafficking and manufacturing locally have led to some members of the Parliamentary Committee demanding to know actions taken by the police following the former president’s revelations.
They told officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs that the country depended on the police force to counter drug trafficking.
Chadema Special Seats MP Grace Tendega said trafficking has become a big problem, questioning police actions against those in the list of suspects as drug barons presented to the former president.
“We need to know actions taken so far regarding the list of drug barons presented to the fourth phase president,” she queried.
Tendega also demanded to know the person behind the all the delays in concluding court cases involving drug dealers as they take a long time to be completed even when the Police have exhibits in hand.
She also accused the Police Force of delaying to destroy seized narcotics already been used as exhibit in court, expressing fears that such drugs could be infiltrated into the local market by untrustworthy police officers.
“We visited the warehouse where impounded narcotic drugs are kept as exhibits. The storage is poor, a situation which may enable the police in charge to be tempted to sell some of them thus causing more problems to the country… You need to improve its storage and destroy them immediately once the cases are concluded in court,” she said.
Another committee member, Zuberi Kachauka said that if the list of drug dealers presented to the fourth phase president lacks enough evidence to arrest the suspects, “police were supposed to find another way of dealing with the suspects to establish the truth.
“The former president once confirmed to have a list of drug dealers and the police were supposed to start from there to investigate the suspects … if having names is not enough evidence the government could call them and request them to stop the illicit trade,” he said. The MP also demanded to know why the coast of East Africa is currently becoming a transit hub for illicit drugs.
Ukonga MP Mwita Waitara (Chadema) said that changing of drugs exhibits has been drawing back efforts to fight against the vice.
He said that police have been impounding drugs but when demanded to tender them as exhibits in court they only say that they were not narcotics.
Singida West MP Elibariki Kingu said that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) needs to speed up the process of filing cases related to illicit drugs.
Kingu cited a case facing a suspected drug kingpin, Ali Khatib Haji Hassan, also known as Shkuba, saying that the case has been at the court for four years without being concluded.
He said that the Government Chemist had never been asked to submit to the court any exhibit relating to that case. Responding, Home Affairs Minister Charles Kitwanga said that he had never come across the list of drug barons, insisting that police were working to ensure that they establish a system which will help to identify all drug dealers.
“We want to establish a system which will help to identify suppliers, distributers and users and take action against them… the list might be available but the important issue here is to identify them,” the minister said.
For his part, Inspector General of Police Ernest Mangu said that cases related to illicit drugs are complicated and delays to conclude them are caused by many stakeholders.
He said that the police cannot file illicit drug cases in court without proof from the Government Chemist that the samples taken were illicit drugs.
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