High Court accepts Dowans application

By The guardian reporter

Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco).

The High Court yesterday accepted the application for registration of the controversial 94bn/- Dowans award ruling, appointing a judge to preside and determine it.

The request was submitted on Tuesday by Dowans’ lawyer, Kennedy Fungamtama, who also acts as the power generating firm’s representative in Tanzania.

High Court Deputy Registrar Salvatory Bongole told journalists yesterday that the case filed under Miscellaneous Application No. 8 of 2011 already has a judge to preside over it.

“We have received an application which involves Dowans Holdings SA and Dowans Tanzania Limited versus Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco). After the judge has gone through it, he will consult Tanesco for discussion on the matter,” Bongole said.

He clarified that a panel of High Court officials appointed the judge to preside over the case, though he was yet to be notified officially.

“We are trying to communicate with him to let him know about the appointment,” the deputy registrar said.

On Wednesday the deputy registrar said the issue of whether the ruling on the 94bn/- award to Dowans by the International Commercial Court should be registered by the High Court or not was awaiting final decision by higher authorities in the judiciary.

“We have forwarded the matter to the judicial authorities because of its sensitivity,” he told reporters, who had wanted to have details on the registration of the award case.

According to international law, Dowans cannot be compensated until the International Chamber of Commercial (ICC) ruling is registered at the High Court.

The government said on Monday it would appoint a team of legal experts to explore all legal avenues to save the nation from the burden of paying Dowans the 94bn/- penalty for breach of contract.

The move followed a resolution by members of the ruling CCM parliamentary committee calling on the government to explore all legal ways of reducing the amount to be paid to Dowans or to not pay at all.

Recently, activists under the umbrella of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) filed a case at the High Court (Commercial Division) to block a government decision, announced by the minister for Energy and Minerals, William Ngeleja to pay the power firm 94bn/-.

According to LHRC Executive Director Francis Kiwanga, the High Court (Commercial Division) is expected to set up the date and appoint a judge for the hearing of the case tomorrow.

“In our application, we asked the High Court to speed up the hearing of the case. We hope it will do so. We are challenging the hefty compensation. It is a huge amount of money, which is unfair to pay to Dowans,” Kiwanga told a press conference.

The LHRC has contracted prominent constitutional lawyer and University of Dar es Salaam senior lecturer Dr Sengondo Mvungi to represent them in court.