This is an update on the status of the accounts of the network sent from London by Tim.
The officers of the network at present are Jacka Mwambi (Jaka Mgwabi), Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) and Steven Millambo (Milambo).
Jacka Mwambi (Jaka Mgwabi) is the chairman, Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) is the treasurer, and Steven Millambo (Milambo) is the secretary. Jacka Mwambi (Jaka Mgwabi) is associated with NICE Tanzania (National Youth Information Centre) and with Unemployed Single Women, an NGO in Dar es Salaam. Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) is associated with Poverty Fighters Society or Pofideso. Steven Millambo (Milambo) is associated with Youth Life Relief Foundation or YLRF.
Under the funding agreement signed in January 2008, the officers are individually responsible for the funds of the network, and each of them is separately liable to repay any funds that have been improperly disbursed. We have not seen, and so we have not been able to publish for members, any bank statements of the network after May 2008. Nor have we received a clear set of accounts which show how money has been used by the officers so far this year.
We were recently contacted by some network members who were concerned whether the network’s funds were being used effectively. It is important to emphasize that we do not have any evidence of fraud or theft. However, the purpose of accounts is to prove to members and to outsiders that there has not been any misuse of funds, and without this information we cannot prove this to outsiders.
Members have expressed concern to us in London partly because the officers claimed that they had spent 300,000 shillings on translating the constitution of the network into Swahili, even though past translators we have employed directly from London have been considerably less expensive.
We have asked Jacka Mwambi (Jaka Mgwabi), Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) and Steven Millambo (Milambo) to provide the backup receipts and paperwork for this spending, but so far have not received anything, nor a copy of the Swahili translation of the constitution itself. The only response received is from Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega), who said: "About 300,000 Tshs I think we agree before that this is wrong and everybody know so I have nothing new to say." Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega)
On June 20th, I emailed Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) and the other officers asking them to provide an account of how our money had been spent. My email said: "Please make sure that the spreadsheet you send is prepared exactly according to the instructions."
On June 21st, Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) emailed me a spreadsheet which was not prepared according to the instructions. It was incomplete and contained numerous problems and errors, and included the bank statements for April and May but not for June.
On June 30th, I sent Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) an email listing 11 errors or problems in detail and asking him to fix them, and asking him to provide the June statement.
On June 31st, Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) replied saying: "On 11tst July 2008 I will expecting to travel for Reaserch work in Easternarc Mountains areas so I will try to do this as I can and send it to you again."
On July 5th, I received an email from Seth Simon of Plan International, who is an expert auditor who offered to give Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) free advice to help him prepare the accounts. I had asked Seth whether Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) contacted him. Seth replied: "I never saw him coming to me and never saw the accounts sent to you. I thing he is not ready being helped by me."
On August 2nd, Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) sent me an email saying: "Iam back from Morogoro so now I workout with your docs." After that, I received nothing more from Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega).
In particular, Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) has not given an explanation for 300,000 shillings which seems to have been taken out of the bank account in cash.
It is claimed that this money was to pay for the translation of the constitution, but I have not seen either a receipt or the translation itself. Also, it is contrary to the network's agreed procedures for such a large sum to have been paid out in cash instead of by cheque.
In Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega)'s email below, written on August 29th, he says "I believe and know that the all information how the fund have been used have been sent and came to your office". This does not match the record of emails that I have received from him.
It is possible that there was another email that he sent between August 2nd and yesterday that I never received. If so, I hope that Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega) will send a copy of this email to me immediately, including the 'headers' that prove the date and time it was sent.
We notified Steven Millambo (Milambo) and Jacka Mwambi (Jacka Mgwabi) that if we do not have the required information, we would be forced to publish an update on the network web site. Steven Millambo (Milambo) and Jacka Mgwabi responded with complaints about the idea of publishing this update, but did not report taking any steps to getting the accounts straight and correct.
If members would like to contact the officers directly, they can do so as follows:
Jacka Mwambi (Jaka Mgwabi): "Jacka" <jacka812001@gmail.com>, <jacka812001@yahoo.co.uk>, <jacka812001@gmail.com>, "Nice Tanzania" <nicetz@yahoo.com>, <unemployedsinglewomen@yahoo.co.uk>
Shabani Madega (Shaban Madega): "Shabani Madega" <shabanally@hotmail.com>, "poverty fighters" <pofideso@yahoo.com>, "Poverty Fighters" <pofideso@gmail.com>,
Steven Millambo (Milambo): "Steven Millambo" <stevenmilambo83@gmail.com>, "youth life" <youthlife2002@yahoo.co.uk>,
We will update this document as we receive more information.
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