London | Tuesday
A BRITISH firm is bidding to sell an expensive military air traffic control system to Tanzania, prompting a row at the centre of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government, the Guardian reported on Tuesday.
The 28-million pound ($40-million) deal with one of Africa’s poorest countries was reported to have divided the Cabinet between ministers eager to safeguard jobs at manufacturer BAe Systems and those who regard it as a waste of money that would be better spent on development.
The Bank and the International Monetary Fund say a civilian system more suited to a country with only eight military aircraft would cost a quarter of the price, according to the Guardian.
The daily reported that Blair had joined Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in backing the scheme, while finance minister Gordon Brown and International Development Secretary Clare Short were opposed.
Opponents of the scheme fear that granting it an export licence could undermine the ruling Labour Party’s commitment to an ethical foreign policy.
The deal could safeguard 250 BAe Systems jobs on the Isle of Wight, off southern England, at a time when the international aerospace industry is under pressure because of the knock-on effects of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.
The per capita income in the former British colony is just 170 pounds a year and a quarter of the nation’s children die before their fifth birthday, the newspaper said.
Downing Street declined to comment on the reports.
Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said earlier this month that poverty is the major enemy of his country’s independence, but expressed hope on the ongoing efforts to improve the people’s welfare.
In an address to the nation on the 40th anniversary of independence, Mkapa said: ”I hope it will not take us another 40 years to get rid of absolute poverty amongst our people.”
”Tanzania’s independence was incomplete if the majority of the people remained poor and live in squalid conditions,” Mkapa said then. – AFP