Edward Lowassa

==Richmond corruption scandal==
On 7 February 2008, Lowassa was forced to resign after being implicated in the Richmond Energy deal corruption scandal.<ref>{{cite news |title=Will elections steer Tanzania in a new direction? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/10/24/will-elections-steer-tanzania-in-a-new-direction/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=7 October 2018}}</ref> This followed a parliamentary select committee report on an emergency power generation contract between the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Ltd ([[TANESCO]]), a public corporation, and a US company styled Richmond Development Company LLC of Houston, Texas. The five-member select committee, headed by Kyela MP, Dr. [[Harrison Mwakyembe]], found the contract to have been fraudulently concluded, hence unconscionable. Richmond was contracted to provide 100 megawatts of electricity each day after a drought early in 2006 but the Richmond generators arrived late and did not work as expected. In spite of this, the government paid Richmond more than $100,000 a day.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Lowassa's office then influenced the government's decision to extend Richmond's contract despite advice to the contrary from TANESCO. Two other cabinet ministers who had held the energy portfolio, Dr. Ibrahim Msabaha and Nazir Karamagi were forced to resign as well.<ref name=hindu08>{{Citation  | last = Associated Press  | author-link = Associated Press  | title = Tanzania's Cabinet dissolved after PM, Energy Minister resign  | newspaper = [[The Hindu]]  | publisher = [[The Hindu Group]]  | date = 8 February 2008  | url = http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200802081550.htm  | access-date = 3 April 2010  | archive-date = 9 February 2008  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080209121828/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200802081550.htm  | url-status = dead  }}</ref><ref name=Mehler>{{Cite book  | last1 = Mehler  | first1 = Andreas  | last2 = Melber  | first2 = Henning  | last3 = Van Walraven  | first3 = Klaas  | title = Africa Yearbook: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara in 2008  | publisher = BRILL  | year = 2009  | pages = 376  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xOVYchAfCYYC&pg=PA377  | isbn =978-90-04-17811-3
}}</ref>

Lowassa however denied that his office was involved in improperly awarding a contract to US-based electricity company Richmond Development in 2006.<ref name="Tanzanian PM to resign over graft"/>