Eti Balali Amefariki hapa Boston, MA?

Wadau, tangu juzi nimepigiwa simu na wadau wengi kuniuluiza kama Mzee Balali alikuwa hapa Boston, Massachusetts kwa matibabu. Ukweli sijui na wala sikuwahi kusikia kama yupo hapa. Niliambiwa kuwa alifariki Washingtion D.C. siku ya Ijumaa iliyopita.

Kwa kawaida mtu akifariki hapa kuna kuwa na matangazo kwenye gazeti kama Boston Herald na Boston Globe. Bado sijaona Obituary yake. Kama nikiona nitaiposti hapa.

Sasa nashangaa jana Ippmedia.com walisema kuwa serikali imetangaza kuwa Mzee Balali alifariki Washington D.C., leo wanasema amefariki hapa Boston. Niko confused sasa. Juu ya hayo kuna mtu alisema Mzee Balali yu mzima na anategemea kuwasili Dar es Salaam kesho! Heh!

Mnaonaje hii issue wadau?

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Kutoka ippmedia.com

Yes, Ballali is dead - BoT

2008-05-22

By Angel Navuri and Correspondent Njonanje Samwel

The Bank of Tanzania confirmed yesterday that its immediate former governor, Daudi Ballali, is dead. A section of the media broke the surprise sad news yesterday morning, as the nation awaited word on developments relating to a saga on grand corruption allegations involving him.

A statement issued by BoT said the office of central bank Governor Benno Ndulu had learnt with shock on Tuesday night that Ballali died on Friday last week in Boston, the US, where he was understood to have been undergoing treatment.

``We at the Bank join the late Ballali`s family in mourning his death and pray to God that his soul rest in eternal peace,`` read part of the statement. Neither Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Bernard Membe nor his deputy, Seif Ali Iddi, could be reached for comment on the issue yesterday.

However, a man who identified himself as a close Ballali relative said in an interview with this paper that the former governor died last Friday in the US ``after long but undisclosed illness``. At the residence of Ballali's sister at Boko in suburban Dar es Salaam, The Guardian found scores of people assembled to mourn his death.

The woman was identified only as Eliza, while the people at her residence were said to be family members, close relatives, family friends and neighbours. ``It`s true that Ballali is no more. We are gathered here as family members to discuss what to do,`` said an informer, who flatly refused to give his name.

According to a close Ballali relative, family members were having a hard time planning how to break the sad news to the former BoT chief's ailing mother. She is said to have heart problems and is currently cared for at Eliza`s residence.

Ballali was taken to South Africa last year after developing health problems. He was later flown to Boston for further medical attention, where he was subsequently admitted. Last December doctors there released him after his condition improved, instructing him to stay home for three months - until March this year - before returning to the hospital.

But his condition soon reportedly began deteriorating, forcing his doctors to order his re-admission. President Jakaya Kikwete relieved Ballali of his duties after revelations that the former governor had occasioned a loss amounting to billions of shillings through shady dealings with phony companies in 2005. Sooner after, the president named Prof Ndulu as Ballali's successor at the central bank.

Ernst & Young, the international auditing firm contracted by the government to screen the central bank`s accounts, revealed that payments amounting to 133,015,186,220/74 were dubiously made to 22 domestic companies under the External Payments Arrears (EPA) account scheme in 2005. Some 90,359,078,804/- out of this was paid to 13 companies on the strength of fake or forged documents.

Another nine firms were said to have been paid an equivalent of 42,656,107,417/- without any documents to support their claims.