JPM: We need to have more realistic budgets

Dar es Salaam. President John Magufuli yesterday spoke of the need to set realistic budget targets and voiced his concern about missed timelines for development projects.

President Magufuli said his administration will now allocate budget funds that it can guarantee. This way, he noted, there will be less public disquiet over stalled projects.

He said projects will be realigned with available resources so that clear progress is made on the ground.

President Magufuli was speaking yesterday when addressing the 33rd annual conference of the Association of Local Authorities of Tanzania (Alat) held in Dar es Salaam. The function was attended by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa among other dignitaries. It was the first time that Dr Magufuli was directly commenting on what has ailed the government’s rollout plan for development projects, mostly within local authorities.

He cited the examples of unattainable development budget for local government in the past three years, saying best budget is the one that can effectively be implemented using the available resources.

According to him, in 2014/15 the budget set aside for local government was Sh339.8 billion but only Sh210 billion was issued, then in 2015/16 allocated amount was Sh296.3 billion but the released amount was only Sh168.8 billion.

“In 2016/17 we allocated Sh256.7 billion and managed to release Sh251.5 billion, this indicates that we can set reasonable targets that can be released on time using our own resources,” he told hundreds of delegates.

While only Sh15 billion has so far been released to local authorities in the current 2017/2018 budget, Dr Magufuli assured he was committed to releasing the full amount of Sh308 billion.

Tanzania’s budget making process has been faulted in the past over ambitious targets that fell short due to inadequate domestic and foreign funding.

Dr Magufuli’s first budget suffered a similar fate, attaining an average of 40 per cent development funding that was heavily criticised by the officials opposition in Parliament.

This year, the budget was raised to Sh32 trillion from Sh28 trillion in the preceding year despite pressure on the resource envelope due to a slightly distressed economy, mounting local and foreign debts and exorbitant external borrowing. The new government faced nearly Sh2.5 trillion in domestic carry over debts alone. Dr Magufuli said yesterday they are also servicing Sh950 billion in mature foreign debts.

According to Dr Magufuli, some of the sweeping decisions he has taken is to make Tanzania self-reliant and use the available resources to serve the majority poor.

He said his war against corruption and waste of public resources is painstaking and appealed for support from well-meaning Tanzanians. He declared that he will not step back in his resolve to overhaul what he described as a rotten system.

He said his declared economic war was worth it because foreign investors and big business were colluding with unscrupulous civil servants to loot the country.

According to the Head of State, Tanzania’s economy was on sound footing, saying it will soon rival Ethiopia’s soon. He said the country continues to attract investors and leaders from different countries who want to work with Tanzania.

He advised ALAT members to raise the integrity bar and serve the public with diligence without considering their political affiliations.

“We are building one house…our enemy is not ourselves but those who have for years robbed our economy,” he said.

He said the government will work closely with the association to deliver on their promises to the people, revealing Sh1.2 trillion loan has been obtained from the government of India that will ease water accessibility in the mainland and Zanzibar.

He said some Sh23.8 billion was being spent every month to fund free primary schooling.

The President declined a request by ALAT Chairman Mr Gulamfaheef Mukadam to increase councilors’ allowances from Sh300,000 to Sh800,000, saying the appeal was unaffordable for now.

Meanwhile Dr Magufuli once again publicly defended Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda over claims he forged his academic credentials.

He said Makonda’s successful war against drug barons led to the claim against him. “It wasn’t an easy war, his initiatives resulted into a debate on his academic credentials with some saying he hasn’t schooled but for me it doesn’t matter as long as he catches the drugs abusers,” said Dr Magufuli, who in the past came to the defence of the RC when he was under pressure to resign following an armed raid he made at night on a private television station.