| Hard Talk:JK’s inaction on the Jiro issue erodes public trust | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 14 January 2012 20:19 |
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By Evarist Kagaruki The shocking revelations in the annual reports of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) of billions of shillings of taxpayers’ money which disappear into the pockets of individual public servants are not simply about lack of fiscal discipline, as some people might think; they are essentially about the pervasive corruption in the government and its various institutions. They are, indeed, about people in public office using their positions for personal economic gain. Embezzlement, misappropriation, financial mismanagement, pillage and misuse of public property etc. are conventional terms used to describe the transactions whereby public resources found their way into what are essentially private channels. All these, together with bribery, constitute graft or corruption. Corruption remains perhaps the single most intractable problem our society has faced since independence. But the fight against the scourge goes on. And the CAG goes on too (ritualistically) to produce reports that show, year in and year out, how public resources were being converted and put to private use with impunity! Yet, those reports do not seem to be taken seriously by the authorities. This is why the evil, which erodes government strength and capacity for effective performance and delivery, persists. Public perception was that the problem of misappropriation and other forms of corruption in government and public institutions were still rampant basically because the authorities did not call high-profile officials to account. Critics say because corruption starts from the top, it can be effectively tackled from top down, and not the other way round – a view supported by an adage that says: When a fish goes bad, it is the head which stinks first. Because people don’t see big heads rolling whenever the CAG’s (and parliamentary probe committees’) reports reveal the rot in government, they harbour the justifiable suspicion that the war on corruption was limited to the lower and middle cadres of staff. This suspicion can be readily supported by the government’s inertia to implement the resolutions of Parliament regarding five senior government officials who, recently, were implicated in embezzlement, forgery and cover-up of corruption in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (their names are well known). Parliament, during its last sitting, resolved that severe disciplinary action, including dismissal, should be taken against those government potentates whose reputation (and that of the administration) had been seriously damaged. But until now, no action has been taken. Of course no one would have expected any of these people to step down since in this country there is no culture of accountability among public officials. In societies where such culture exists, a person like William Ngeleja (Energy and Minerals minister) would have taken responsibility and resigned pronto for presiding over outragious impropriety in his domain. But since this is Tanzania, it would be naïve to expect him to do that. So, it was up to President Kikwete to call him (and the other four) to account, and thus show that he was committed to good governance and the principle of protecting the integrity of government. Public opinion is that the entire five indicted official deserved a sack. In fact some people suggest that one of them, Jairo, should be prosecuted for abetting theft at the ministry by sanctioning allowance claims by senior officials. The president’s inordinately delayed action has been interpreted in some quarters as “deliberately” intended to let former Chief Secretary Philemon Luhanjo (who retired at the end of last month) off the hook. But others give the president the benefit of the doubt and say that it was mere coincidence that Luhanjo’s retirement fell due before Kikwete could “conveniently” take a decision. Either way, people are not happy about the manner in which this matter was being handled. It is unfortunate that the president, who has on several occasions called seminars to preach the virtues of honesty, transparency, responsibility and accountability to his lieutenants, was sometimes seen to be hesitant to call to account those who went against their oath of office. This tended to not only contradict his rhetorical flourishes about good governance, but also erode public trust in the government. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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