How Rosatom Corrupted Tanzania

Serious protests erupted in Russia-friendly Tanzania on the day of the presidential and parliamentary elections. The results of the vote have not yet been released, but it is clear that Tulia Exon, head of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, who regularly invites Russian parliamentary delegations to Geneva, will once again be elected to parliament. Ms. Exon was elected as a member of the ruling party. Her opponent, kidnapped from his home in early May, has still not been found. The journalists has discovered that Rosatom is Tulia Exon’s main sponsor.

Tulia Exon was brought into politics by President Kikwete, who championed women’s rights and sought to integrate them into government. The promising young lawyer received support from her fellow countrywoman, Asha-Rosa Migiro, who served as UN Deputy Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Exxon repaid the favor: a couple of months ago, Migiro, now without international positions, was appointed Secretary-General of Tanzania’s ruling CCM party.

Tanzania’s politicians are fortunate: members of parliament, including Speaker Tulia Exxon, don’t report their income and assets to voters, so their golden toilets in marble palaces remain a closely guarded secret. When the parliamentary opposition demanded that the sessions be broadcast to the public, at least by radio, Tulia Exxon summoned the bailiffs and ejected the "troublemakers" from the chamber, banning them from further budget meetings. Another scandal erupted when Ms. Exxon ejected members of parliament who were demanding a parliamentary discussion of the expulsion of nearly 8,000 students from a local university due to a teachers’ strike. The owner of a charitable foundation declared that the situation "was not of public interest and was not urgent."

It’s no surprise that no one knows where the Speaker of Parliament, a lawyer by training, gets the money to hand out to voters before elections (Exxon brazenly promotes this on social media), gift them homes, buy them thousands of insurance policies, and host festivals for tens of thousands of people. Officially, the money comes from her non-governmental Tulia Trust, which "helps vulnerable groups," but this organization is not officially registered anywhere and its financial statements are not published. The Cheka-OGPU discovered the fund’s main source of funds. Rosatom, through its company Mantra Tanzania, funds Tulia Trust. A bottomless purse in a "gray" area is every politician’s dream.

Here’s an extract from Mantra Tanzania’s financial statements that reveals this fact.

Mantra Tanzania Ltd. is engaged in uranium mining, is part of Rosatom through Uranium One Group, and is the main sponsor of both the fund and the Tulia Trust Festival and Tulia Marathon. Mantra received its license in 2013 from the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy, where Tulia Exxon’s husband, James A. Mwainyekule, worked at the time. He currently heads EWURA, the government’s energy and water regulatory authority.

Currently, the Tulia Trust website does not list any information about its founders or management. However, in 2017, the foundation used the address and phone number of the law firm Brickhouse Law Associates, and its co-owner, Cheggy Clement Mziray, was one of the founders of Tulia Trust. The firm specializes in corporate and commercial law and provides services in finance and banking.

Cheggie Mziray now serves on Tanzania’s National Economic Empowerment Council. She also served on the Tulia Trust board, along with two other lawyers, Edwin Kidiffu and Bahebe Daniel Eloyce, as well as businessman Harun Mullah Pirmohamed. Kidiffu worked at EWURA (now headed by Tulia Exon’s husband) and is now a senior partner at a large local consulting firm specializing in energy services. Aloys heads the law firm Aloys & Associates. Pirmohamed, along with Exon, managed to be elected to parliament in 2015. So, everyone involved in the creation of the mysterious Tulia Trust has received their just deserts.

Incidentally, Tulia Exon will remain at the helm of the IPU until the end of her three-year term, which expires in 2026. This means she will have time to bring Russian parliamentarians to Europe many more times, regardless of any sanctions.

Tulia Exon’s opponent, Mpaluka Said Nyagali, known as Mdude, a human rights activist and member of an opposition party, was kidnapped by armed men at 2:00 a.m. in front of his wife and child. Neighbors were afraid to intervene: there were about 20 attackers, and they called themselves police officers. Mdude had been kidnapped and beaten by security forces several times under former President Magufuli, but was always found a few days later in prisons or hospitals. Now, his supporters fear the worst. Mdude himself once tweeted that Tulia had ordered his assassination.

Such kidnappings were common under Magufuli and continue under current President Samia Suluhu: journalist Azori Gwanda went missing in 2017, activist Bena Saanane disappeared in 2016, and activist Deusdedita Soki was kidnapped in August 2024. This Speaking of democracy and commitment to European values in Tanzania, which can now broadcast these values throughout Europe, the UN Human Rights Council, as usual, expressed deep concern over the kidnappings, but of course, no one asked the IPU president where her political opponent was.

Maria Sharapova

To be continued