Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Hussein Ali Hassan Mwinyi yesterday described his first six months in power as a tedious period, in which he had to reorganize the government and pave the way for implementing what he promised the Wananchi during the 2020 election campaigns.
“After a successful formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) which led to ongoing political stability and peace, the past six months was a tedious period, trying to set-up things in-order which include starting war against corruption, laziness, irresponsibility, lack of accountability and transparency, and ghost beneficiaries,” Dr Mwinyi said.
Speaking to the ruling CCM party leaders and supporters at Amani area in the City, Dr Mwinyi said he couldn’t start implementing his promises which include the party 2020/2025 election manifesto because there was massive embezzlement of public funds, dubious deals, and wide room for corruption.
He said that the recent annual General Audit Reports for 2019/2020, from the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), also proved that the Zanzibar government has a lot to do in addressing cheating, lack of accountability and corruption in public offices.
“We still have weaknesses in tax collections and expenditure because some dishonest civil servants have decided to look at their personal interest first before the country.
Let us work collectively to ensure that theft in government offices,” Mwinyi said, adding that improved revenue collection and discipline in expenditure are the only ways that can guarantee us to benefit from our money.
He added: “Ghost beneficiaries have been everywhere, in loans, workers’ payroll, pensioners (including universal pension scheme), students’ loan, and even in the TASAF programme you have either non or unqualified people.”
Before Dr Mwinyi made his speech, some retired CCM leaders and supporters raised their voices over the filthy part of the CAG report, urging the president to punish perpetrators of the misappropriation of public funds.
They also pleaded with the president to address burning issues, including unemployment, poor roads, inadequate water supply, and health facilities with insufficient equipment, mainly essential drugs and understaffing.
President Mwinyi reiterated to unearth all dishonest civil servants and act tough on them as the government starts to implement the promises which include development programmes, employment opportunities, and new mega projects, such as the construction of a multipurpose seaport at Mangapwani- Bumbwini.
Dr Mwinyi said his government is also looking to improve power supply by finding new domestic sources of energy, expand and construct new airports, and empowering young people by creating jobs through training, providing capital, and finding markets for locally made products. Currently Zanzibar imports 100megawatts of electricity from the Mainland.
“We must change the way we support youth and women. The traditional way of giving them small loans has not helped to change their lives and grow economically.
Most of the projects are defunct or inactive and the beneficiaries have failed to pay back the loan,” Mwinyi said, reiterating that the future of Zanzibar is bright.
