Sh5.7bn vehicles to boost anti-graft war
Acting Director-General of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) John Mbungo hands over a key of one of the 43 vehicles to a Bureau’s Malinyi District representative known by one name as Salumu at the headquarters in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The government has purchased 43 vehicles worth Sh5.7 billion to facilitate PCCB’s field work of preventing and combating corruption in the country. PHOTO | JOHN NAMKWAHE
What you need to know:
PCCB received about 43 brand new vehicles which, the anti-corruption agency says, have been distributed to 21 districts.
Dar es Salaam. The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) says it is focusing on enhancing investigations into corruption cases, particularly in the areas where it previously failed to fully intervene due to lack of adequate vehicles.
The projection comes after yesterday the PCCB Acting Director-General, John Mbungo, received 43 brand new vehicles worth Sh5.7 billion, which was obtained from the government.
The vehicles have been distributed to 21 districts to be used by the PCCB officials who were recently deployed to serve the newly launched PCCB offices located in Tanganyika, Kakonko and Kibiti, to mention but a few.
The assistance, according to the PCCB boss, will enable the main anti-corruption agency to strengthen its operations in combating corruption cases.
“On behalf of PCCB, I would like to thank the President for the assistance. We are truly determined to continue combating corruption in the country,” said the PCCB boss.
In March this year, President Magufuli directed PCCB to establish offices in the 21 new districts in efforts to extend the agency’s operations across the country.
PCCB Lawyer Imani Nitume said the anti-corruption agency was still in need of more vehicles in order to make the agency’s operations more effective.
“Most of corruption investigations are field-based activities. Two to three vehicles may be used during such investigations,” said Mr Nitume.
Moreover, Mr Nitume remained optimistic that the new vehicles will enable PCCB at district level to reach more areas and conduct thorough investigations.
According to the 2016 Tanzania Corruption Report published in Business Anti-Corruption Portal, corruption is pervasive throughout Tanzanian society and is a serious problem across all sectors of the economy.
The most affected sectors are government procurement, land administration, taxation, and customs.
Under the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act (PCCA), corruption covers attempted corruption, extortion, passive and active bribery, money laundering and bribery of a foreign official.
