Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Monday, February 20, 2023.
EAC to leverage on technology for revenue mobilization
Heads of East African Revenue Authorities have resolved to leverage on technology and data for revenue mobilization and collection.
According to media reports, the resolution was reached during the 50th East Africa Revenue Authorities Commissioner General meeting hosted in Kampala from February 16 to 17 by the Uganda Revenue Authority.
The objective of the biannual meeting was to share experiences and address common challenges facing tax administration in the region.
It was attended by commissioners general and senior officers from the office of Burundais des Recettes (OBR), Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), South Sudan National Revenue Authority, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Zanzibar Revenue Authority.
Others in attendance were the representatives of the East African Community Secretariat. It was organized under the theme Leveraging on technology and data for revenue mobilization.
In his remarks, the URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi, who chaired the meeting, noted that the ever-changing and dynamic environment in which the regional tax administrations operate calls for increased reliance on technology and data analytics.
He explained that that revenue collection and management was evolving from self-declaration to collecting revenue with tools that increase the accuracy of the assessment of taxes, improve compliance with paying taxes, increase customer satisfaction, and improve efficiency.
“This is the future of tax administration and I want to thank my colleague the commissioners’ general of the East African Region for giving this important forum the priority and attention that it deserves,” Mr Musinguzi was quoted as saying.
During their meeting, the revenue commissioners from East Africa agreed to have a common tax administration system and a common data governance policy across the region.
“We shared how every county is running its tax administration system and we agreed that going forward we should work together to find the most suitable solutions for tax management not only for today but even for the future. We have tasked our team of experts to work hard and get back to us in one month on how we shall proceed together,” Mr Musinguzi noted.
“The other most important decision that we agreed on is to support one another in the cross-border recover of taxes and enhancing the legal frameworks to expedite this because we have businesses that operate across borders and sometimes, they default in one country and operate freely in another country,” he added.
DC: Measles has killed 12 children in Mlele since December 2022
A total of 12 children have died of measles in south-western Tanzania’s Mlele district, Katavi region, since December, the BBC reported on Monday, quoting district commissioner Majid Mwanga.
He added that 847 children had been infected with measles in the district between December and February.
Health workers have so far vaccinated 16,480 children and are continuing with the exercise, Mr Mwanga said.
The government has urged people in the area to abandon false beliefs – such as that their children died after being bewitched – and get them vaccinated.
Five months ago, Tanzania’s Minister of Health Ummy Mwalimu announced the outbreak of measles in seven regions. He started a nationwide campaign to provide vaccinations for measles and rubella to children under the age of five.
People of all ages can get measles, but it mostly affects children under five.
Tanzania, Zambia agree to fast-track upgrade of over 5-decade-old joint oil pipeline
The presidents of Zambia and Tanzania agreed Sunday on the need to fast-track the upgrading of an over five-decade-old oil pipeline which the two countries share.
The more than 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) Tanzania Zambia Mafuta (TAZAMA) pipeline has been running since 1968 and transports more than a million tons of crude oil per year from the port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to the city of Ndola in Zambia.
In a statement on his official Facebook page, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said he met with his Tanzanian counterpart Samia Suluhu Hassan on the sidelines of the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with the pipeline at the top of the meeting’s agenda.
“Our meeting was centred on strengthening bilateral relations in the area of trade facilitation and energy investment between our two countries. At the top of the agenda was the TAZAMA project,” said Hichilema, adding the objective is to rehabilitate the pipeline and its auxiliary systems.
The pipeline remains a critical asset for Zambia as the country does not produce crude of its own and is instead dependent on imports from Europe and the Middle East via the port of Dar-es-Salaam.
In a separate post on her official Facebook page, Suluhu Hassan announced the bilateral meeting, adding that her country was keen on ensuring that the project was realized for the mutual benefit of the two nations.
Zambia’s current fuel needs hover above a million liters daily and the southern African nation has not been spared from the pressures on the global oil market, with local pump prices for the commodity now fetching around $1.50 a liter.
In his latest statement on the project, Energy Minister Peter Kapala said it would help keep petroleum costs affordable while assuring road transporters that their business would not be impacted as their services would be required simultaneously with the pipeline.
This is it for today and we hope you enjoyed our briefing. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter (see below) or follow us on Twitter (here) or joining us on Telegram (here). And in case you have any questions or comments, please consider dropping a word to our editors at editor@thechanzo.com.
