Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
Samia explains what ails her government
President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Wednesday outlined three problems that trouble her government, urging her assistants to work on them lest the administration fails to deliver what it has promised to Tanzanians.
The Head of State mentioned poor management, the lack of proper coordination and weak evaluation and monitoring mechanisms as issues that demand urgent redress.
President Samia made the observation today, March 30, 2022, after receiving reports from the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) and Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) at the Chamwino State House in the capital Dodoma.
In his submission, CAG Charles Kichere presented Samia with audit reports that his office carried out in various government institutions for the 2020/2021 financial year.
Among other things, CAG Kichere informed the Tanzanian leader of the mismanagement of public funds in various government institutions as well as other financial woes that beset them.
“It seems like people have failed to stand up for the positions they hold,” President Samia said after receiving the reports. “People are fond of positions but they cannot supervise those positions. There is no accountability. Nepotism is rampant.”
Samia also explained that much of what the CAG raised regarding the mismanagement of public funds could have been avoided if only government departments were working in coordination.
As for monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, President Samia said that every government department must have a section for monitoring and evaluation, led by people who are capable of doing the task.
“We have started to strengthen the [monitoring and evaluation] section at the ministry of finance,” she said. “But maybe this section should focus on monitoring government-implemented projects. But there must be these sections in every government department.”
In his submission earlier, CAG Kichere said that 9,975 recommendations from 31, 311 that his office gave in previous reports, which is equivalent to 32 per cent, have been implemented while the implementation of 10,431 recommendations, which is equivalent to 33 per cent, continues. The implementation of a total of 6,284 recommendations, which is equivalent to 20 per cent, has not started.
Other things that the CAG noted in his submission were the overlapping of responsibilities between the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) and Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA); challenges facing pension funds; failure of the Medical Store Department (MSD) to deliver medical supplies worth Sh14.1 billion to 27 referral hospitals for a year; and the ballooning of the government debt.
On his part, PCCB Director General Salum Hamduni told President Samia during his submission that the anti-corruption watchdog saved a total of Sh29.3 billion of public funds through various operations it led in the year 2020/2021.
He also said that a total of 503 corruption-related cases were ruled out in the court whereby the government won 347 of them while losing 156.
TZ devises new system for privatised entities
The Treasurer Registrar (TR) Mr Mgonya Benedicto said on Tuesday that the government has finalized developing an electronic system dubbed ‘Ubinafsishaji Information System’ geared towards receiving and keeping records of privatized public entities and industries to ease monitoring its successes and challenges.
Mr Benedicto was speaking during a working session with owners and directors of the privatized entities held in Dar es Salaam as a continuation of a similar session held last week in Dodoma.
According to him, the public entities were privatized to ease the government’s burden of running them, believing that doing so would increase their productivity and efficiency and boost new technologies.
He stressed that the government’s main intention was to involve the private sector in growing the country’s economy.
“The development of the system is currently in its final stages, and once completed and becomes operational, investors will be able to appoint their own representatives who will report their information directly, relieving government officials from the task of visiting the privatized entities,” the government-owned Daily News newspaper quoted him as saying.
Mr Benedicto revealed that in the year 2021, follow up and assessment was carried out on about 200 privatized institutions.
“Out of the 200 institutions, only 76 firms were reported to be progressing well, 41 non-performing firms and 83 firms were totally shut down. The firms comprised 108 industries, 54 farms, 19 hotels and 19 companies,” said Mr Benedicto.
Levies scrapped to boost coffee production in Tanzania
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa announced on Tuesday the removal of 42 levies out of 47 levies imposed on coffee for growers of the cash crop in the Kagera region to boost the cash crop production in Tanzania.
The premier announced the removal of the 42 levies on the crop in a meeting with coffee growers and cooperative societies specifically dealing with coffee in the Kagera region, one of the leading coffee producing regions in the country.
The move followed recommendations made by a task force he had formed to look at the running of coffee cooperative societies in the region.
In a statement released by his office, Mr Majaliwa observed that the chain of levies imposed on coffee growers in the region discouraged them to grow the crop, leading to its poor production.
Minister for Agriculture Hussein Bashe said the levies imposed on coffee were burdensome to growers of the cash crop in the Kagera region.
Kagera regional administrative secretary Faustin Kamuzora said the Kagera region harvested 52,000 tons of coffee in the 2021/2022 farming season of the crop valued at Sh69 billion, which is equivalent to about $30 million.
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