Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT John Magufuli hands over working tools to the new Commissioner of Ethics Secretariat, Judge Sivangilwa Mwangesi during his swearing in ceremony held at the State House in Dodoma yesterday. (Photo by State House)
PRESIDENT John Magufuli has ordered all assets declaration forms for senior public officials to be filled offline, citing privacy and cybersecurity concerns.
While the submission deadline is just around the corner, the Head of State demanded senior officials who are eligible under the clause in the 1995 law on Public Leaders Ethics to disclose their assets and income before the New Year’s Eve.
“The forms can be accessed online, but filling and submission must be in-person,” President Magufuli said yesterday immediately after administering an oath of integrity to the newly sworn in Ethics Commissioner, Judge Sivangilwa Sikalalilwa Mwangesi at the State House in Chamwino.
According to President Magufuli, the advent in technology has made it easy for people with ill-motives to hack anyone’s scanned document and manipulate the figure.
He went on to insist that online submission lacks originality, further questioning the privacy for each document submitted online.
“I had suggested before… and I will say it again. Photocopies can be manipulated,” he said, emphasizing that the document can be made available online, however, the officials must send the documents at the secretariat’s office for usual filling.
The ethics secretariat, an institution in charge of supervising the entire process, announced that it will be adopting digital transformation, allowing officials away from its office to access the documents and submit them online.
Last week, it said thousands of senior officials had not submitted their declaration documents for assets, income and liabilities.
Acting Ethics Commissioner at the Public Leaders Ethics Secretariat, Waziri Kipacha said 15,176 officials are obliged to declare their assets, but unfortunately, only 1,498 leaders, or 9.9 per cent had so far updated their declarations.
He said in a statement that until December 16, 2020, only 1,498 officials had fulfilled the legal requirement. The Secretariat said officials had until December 31 to fulfil the constitutional requirement.
According to the legislation, senior public officials must declare their assets every year and are also required to make a final declaration on leaving office.
The principal goal of income and asset disclosure systems is merely part of the country’s plan to combat corruption.
Analysts had suggested that a slow pace in officials declaring their assets is not because they are hiding anything, but because they are exposing their wealth and could be targeted by bad elements.
Ethics Commissioner, Judge Mwangesi assured the president that he will work according to the state and the ruling party’s policy and legal requirement to enhance public ethics.
He said he will be working with other commissioners to boost public leaders’ ethics for the betterment of the nation.
Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Constitution and Legal Affairs, Amoni Mpanju and Deputy Minister in the Office of the President Public Service Management and Good Governance, Deogratius Ndejembi tendered their unconditional support to the newly appointed ethics commissioner.
Mr Ndejembi said the ethics secretariat has continued improving the public leaders’ ethics, in which an estimated 92 per cent of senior officials currently declare their assets and income.
He said the job ahead is for the commissioner to ensure verification of the documents are timely.
Mwangesi was appointed following the demise of retired judge of the Tanzania Court of Appeal, Harold Nsekela at the age of 76 after a short illness early this month.
