AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan on Sunday suspended the Director General of Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Eng Deusdedith Kakoko to pave the way for investigations over accusations of embezzlement of around 3.6bn/-.
The Head of State made the decision shortly after receiving the audit report for the year 2019/2020 from the Controller and Auditor General Charles Kichere at the Chamwino State House in Dodoma.
President Samia said various reports have been spotting embezzlement of money at TPA but no strong measures have been taken to curb the loss of public funds at the ports.
She said some measures were taken after Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa formed a committee to probe the claims of embezzlement at the TPA, but were not enough given the magnitude of the reported malpractices.
“Only junior staff were suspended, now I’m suspending the Director General to pave the way for investigation,” President Samia said.
The president instructed the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to launch an investigation against TPA officials and take up the task as a matter of urgency.
According to the CAG report there was an embezzlement of 3.6bn/- by TPA officials, and a vividly dismayed President Samia said that the government will continue taking strong measures to plug financial leaks and boost collections for national development.
“From these reports, I have seen the massive fraud that has been conducted at TPA, we need to take actions on this for the country to benefit from its own resources,” she noted.
Going forward the head of state asked all officials working in public institutions to improve efficiency and curb losses that have been recorded in the audit reports.
President Samia, calmly but boldly vowed to crack whip on heads of other public entities adversely mentioned in the CAG’s report.
With the CAG report picking holes in financial management in most public institutions, Ms Samia called for harmonisation of the revenue collection systems.
She said, there are six systems that the government is using on revenue collections, as part of continued efforts to curb leakage of government revenue.
“We need to have systems that are more efficient, this would simplify the collections, spending and monitoring process in all development projects,” she explained.
Eng Kakoko was confirmed as TPA Director General in October 2018 after holding the position in acting capacity for a long time.
Mr Kakoko replaced Awadh Massawe, who was fired alongside the then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, Shaaban Mwinjaka.
In December, last year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa suspended two TPA officials to pave the way for investigations following allegations of misuse of public funds.
He suspended the Authority’s Director of Finance, Ms Nuru Mhando, and Financial Expenditures Manager, Ms Witness Mahela.
The Premier made the decision after receiving a special audit report by CAG on financial reports of the port of Kigoma for the year 2017/18 and 2018/19. The audit was done to confirm whether there was the abuse of public funds.
Cognizant of the fact that TPA carries the backbone of Tanzania’s economy, Mr Majaliwa asked the TPA board of directors to properly supervise the management team and take measures against any of the staff who violate rules and regulations.
“Despite the increase in revenue collection, but the government gets only 70 per cent of the collection, the remaining per cent goes to the unfaithful individuals. We are very much disappointed with what has been disclosed by the CAG report on the port of Kigoma,” he said.
The PM noted that the port had denied the government revenue of more than 2bn/ after granting tax exemption to Simba Cement Company despite the fact the request was denied by the exemption committee.
According to the Premier, the TPA authorised payment of 8.2bn/- to the Port of Kigoma for various payments, knowingly that it has a limit of 7.4bn/-.
“We have learnt that 900m/- was paid to one of the business men in Kigoma Mr Eliya Mtinyako. The payment was issued while there were no documents to justify the transaction, since the recipient has no record of supplying anything to the TPA. He has never bid for any tender, he was paid while there was no invoice,” said the Prime Minister.
According to him, despite loss of the money, the accountant of Kigoma port Mr Madaraka Madaraka cleared from the database over debt worth over one billion that different customers owed the port, a move that caused a loss to the government.
The CAG report also unveiled unaccounted payment of more than 2bn/- that was paid without following procedures, and once asked the accountants said they were following instruction from TPA headquarters.
Moreover, the auditors found the presence of 150 cheques that were already signed by all signatories, remaining open for anyone who is in need of any amount, which is contrary to the government procedures, he explained.
“This is fraud, and we can’t let this happen in such a big institution like TPA, this money could have been spent on construction of dispensaries or a number of rural roads being supervised by TARURA,” stressed Mr Majaliwa.
The Prime minister instructed the DCI Robert Boaz to ensure Mr Mtinyako and Madaraka are arrested and slapped with charges if found guilty of committing financial crime.
Moreover, he instructed the PCCB boss Brig Gen John Mbungo to launch an investigation against Mr Kalibilo who received a huge amount of money while there was no document to justify such transactions to the public servant.
“The CAG report has shown that Mr Kalibilo received 55m/- in August, 53m/- in September, 37m/- in October, while in November he was paid 19m/-. He must be arrested for the truth to be known, why he received this entire amount,” he said.
