By Alex Bitekeye, The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Most African countries have meagre resources, but worse enough they are either misused or untimely allocated to the respective organs, this has been a main point behind proper usage of various funds allocated to some projects.

This made some African countries to adopt various transparency measures which include public expenditure tracking System (PETS), social accountability methods (SAM) and local government barometer (LGB).

Organised by Pact-Tanzania and Tanzania Council for Social Development (TACOSODE) who offers various training to the residents  on expenditure tracking system, the recent workshop held in Dodoma under the funding of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) discussed various obstructions  that public expenditure tracking system(PETS).

The workshop, which attracted various stakeholders, raised a point that most government officials do not understand the tracking system.

 “This has been a big problem on our side, especially when we go at district level to conduct it,” lamented Ms Theofrida Kapinga, the executive secretary for Tacosode.

What is PETS
PETS is a careful and intentional ‘watch’ over the use of public resources. It involves a close monitoring, assessment and evaluation of the government budget process.

It is called a tracking system because it involves close assessment from planning, allocations, disbursement and implementation to the final stage of assessing the effect or impact of budgets set.

This may also be referred to an initiative aimed at providing citizens with information about public financial expenditures in order to hold public officials at different levels accountable for their decisions and actions when managing public resources.
It also denotes the system of presenting financial information in a way that allows different stakeholders to see more clearly where the money is coming from and where it is being spent.

According to Ms Kapinga, the system aims at promoting dialogue between the government and the civil society in regard to how public money is spent: “We normally do it with local government leaders, while at the same time, we try hard to create awareness to the public, on what they are supposed to do,” said the executive secretary.

For her side, a lecturer with Mzumbe University Dar es Salaam Business Campus (MUDBS), Dr Darlene Mutalemwa who lectures on the Management of Social Services , once said that, there is a need for a citizen to know the procedures because they are the ones who are adversely affected by improper usage of funds.

“The system works more effectively if people at the grass root understand it, because when the inspectors come, they shoot questions first to residents, before moving to the books and records in local government offices,” said her.

She said that because the system makes a follow-up on various projects, which are implemented at the local level, then there is also a need to create awareness to the leaders at the local level because some of them misinterpret it.

Dr Mutalemwa said that the system proved to be effective in areas where its residents knows what they are suppose to do when it comes to evaluation of the projects, basing on inputs, processes, output and outcomes or impacts.

For his side, the minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Governments, Mr George Mkuchika, who was represented by the Regional Commissioner, Dr Rehema Nchimbi, blamed government leaders especially at the regional level.

“Some of them regard it as an auditing process or even translate it to be witch hunt and fault founding mission as a result they are unwilling to provide necessary information or being reluctant to provide full cooperation to officials conducting Pets,” said Mr Mkuchika.

Ms Kapinga clarifies that it is obvious that most of the government officials are unaware of the system, the act which brings more problems to the people who are conducting it in councils.

“We are not auditors, what we do is just to creat transparency and not otherwise, so if the government train the officials concerning the system, this will help in alleviating problems which my organisation currently faces,” she said.
She gave an example of Njombe District where the officials sent her back to the regional offices to get an approval letter from regional administrative secretary (RAS).

Corroborating with her, Mr Adam Lingson from Oxfam, said through PETS, the government will be sure of proper utilisation of the meagre resources which the country has.

Adding further, the Local Government Administrative ministry technical advisor-governance, Dr Richard Mushi, said that currently the government is preparing to offer training concerning the PETS.

“We will soon offer training on the system to our officials, but on your side, you need to employ a single system to be used by all Civil Societies Organisation (CSO’s),” said Dr Mushi while adding that it is PETS which has been approved by the government.

He clarified that some organisations are using social accountability Methods (SAM) and local government barometer (LGB) which at the end mix-up the officials.

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