AfricaPress-Tanzania: GOVERNMENT officials involved in mismanagement of public funds must be having a bumpy ride as President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Sunday directed a thorough probe be conducted.
President Samia issued the directive at the Chamwino State House in Dodoma on Sunday, shortly after receiving audit reports from the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) together with the Performance Report of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) for the year 2019/2020.
Making her maiden public appearance in her official duties, after succeeding the late John Magufuli, who died on March 17, 2021, President Samia specifically demanded investigations into funds that were released for development projects between January and March, this year.
President Samia’s move is part of a continued government effort to put more control on public funds channeled into development projects to ensure value for money, for the greater interest of the country.
The reports were submitted by CAG Charles Kichere and the PCCB Director General Brig Gen John Mbungo, respectively.
“We want to see an audit of all funds released for the implementation of the development projects from January to March, this year,” she instructed the CAG Mr Kichere and the governor of the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Prof Florens Luoga.
She also asked the CAG when preparing his audit report, to be more transparent on audit reports so that the government can act accordingly.
The president asked the CAG to be more open when spotting weaknesses in public institutions, expressing dismay that there had been a massive embezzlement in public funds in the government-owned organisations.
The Head of State explained that after reading the executive summary of the CAG audit report, she realised that there were a number of issues that have to be addressed immediately for the sake of improving efficiency and controlling spending of public funds.
The president also instructed the CAG to increase a number of public institutions that are being audited by the National Audit Office of Tanzania (NAOT) for the government to be in a position to properly control and monitor all their expenditures.
Ms Samia noted that most of the embezzlements are in the public institutions, and that it was crucial for the NAOT to expand its muscles and audit every organisation.
President Samia commended the CAG move to audit the ongoing major projects such as Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), Julius Nyerere Hydroelectricity Power Plant (JNHPP), Dar es Salaam Rapid Bus Transit, Kimara-Kibaha road project and the Korogwe – Same- Mwanga water Project in Tanga and Kilimanjaro regions by using real-time audit approach.
The approach, said the president, helps in spotting challenges and addressing them immediately to prevent further mess-up in budgets allocated for projects, asking for the CAG to make better use of NAOT officials in undertaking the real-time audit.
President Samia was of the view that all the projects including water and roads must be audited, since most of them are implemented at a dissatisfactory pace.
