Africa-Press – Tanzania. THOUSANDS of public senior officials are still sticking to their guns not to declare their assets, income and liabilities despite a clause in the 1995 Law on Public Leaders Ethics that tasks them to do so.
Acting Ethics Commissioner at the Public Leaders Ethics Secretariat Waziri Kipacha said 15,176 officials are obliged to declare their assets, unfortunately only 1,498 or 9.9 per cent have so far updated their declarations.
“I can confirm that until December 16, 2020, only 1,498 officials have fulfilled the legal requirement,” he said in the statement released to the press on Saturday.
The commissioner stated that until December 31, 2020 he expects all officials to declare their assets on one taking office as the law stipulates.
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.
However, it was not clear the leaders who have or have not declared their assets, but Mr Kipacha pointed out that it is a constitutional requirement under section 132 (5) (b) of the constitution.
“Failure to declare assets is also against section 15 (a) of the Public Leaders Ethics Law. The secretariat is hereby reminding all public leaders to submit their updated declaration to the commissioner,” read part of the statement.
The secretariat launched offices in key zones of Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Mtwara, Mbeya, Morogoro, Tabora, Mwanza and Arusha regions, besides also issuing forms, which can be accessed online through its website.
The principal goal of income and asset disclosure systems is part of the country’s plan to combat corruption, which some analysts said is slowly being adopted, because some leaders fear exposing their wealth that in turn might draw public attention.
However, the Ethics Secretariat has insisted the details presented will remain safe and secure.
In 2014, the Public Leaders Ethics declared its intention to investigate the financial affairs of all senior public officials, and so far, it is not clear where it reached with the plan.
