Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRIME Minister, Kassim Majaliwa on Friday showed the exit door to the Auditor General, Assistant Auditor General and several officials of the Ministry of Finance and Planning to allow investigation into allegations of misuse of public funds.
The decision was reached after the Premier met the Minister for Finance and Planning, Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretaries as well as senior officials of the Ministry at Treasury Hall.
He ordered the DirectorGeneral of Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Salum Rashid Hamduni to conduct a thorough investigation on allegations facing the officials for further legal measures.
According to Premier Majaliwa, on March 13 this year, 30 vouchers of 251m/- were directed as special payments without indicating for what kind of work and who was being paid. The Premier added that on the same day, 198.8m/- was paid as honoraria.
Moreover, the Premier said that on April 8, this year, at least 27 public servants from the Ministry were paid 44.5m/- as allowance of special task for four weeks. He added that on April 13, this year, at least 155.2m/- was paid to 68 officials as allowance for a three-week special work. He added that on April 30 this year, a total of 43.9m/- was paid for preparation of environmental protection programme and 14.4m/- was also paid on the same day for Women’s day.
“Also, another 43m/- was paid on the same day, making the total amount of money that was paid on that particular day to be 101.8m/- in total,” he said.
Furthermore, on May 1st, this year, Mr Majaliwa said 184.1m/- was paid in the morning and later in the afternoon 264m/- was paid for special work.
“These millions of shillings were paid when we were in Mwanza. We were in Mwanza celebrating Labour Day when you are here paying each other allowances,” he noted.
According to Mr Majaliwa, on May 3, this year, 145.6m/- was released to officials as payment for preparation of a special work plan which is part of their daily duties.
He added that on the same day, at least 171.2m/- was paid for preparation of Parliaments documents. Moreover, another 155m/- was paid to several officials as allowance for preparation of work guidelines.
“This behaviour is discouraging us, you are creating environments that make us lose trust in you,” he said.
The Premier advised officials, especially those who are involved in collecting taxes to build trust and do their work diligently, saying contrary to that serious legal measures will be taken against all who will go against principles, ethics and regulations.
