Mwinyi issues ultimatum to ‘useless’ anti-graft agency

Dar es Salaam/Zanzibar. The President of Zanzibar, Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi, has said the Zanzibar Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Authority (Zaeca) should assess whether it is up to the task of helping the government curb misappropriation of public funds.

He made the remarks on Saturday, shortly after receiving the 2020/21 audit report handed over by the Zanzibar Controller and Auditor General, Dr Othman Abass, which shows that Sh4.6 billion was not accounted for by various government entities during the period under review.

According to the CAG’s office, the Health ministry alone had not accounted for Sh1.5.

Other errant institutions were the Works ministry (Sh1.3 billion) and Finance ministry (Sh1.8 billion).

“If we were to be working similarly to the CAG, we wouldn’t have seen this. This has been repeating itself. Zaeca seems to be of no use as it doesn’t help the government,” Dr Mwinyi noted.

“Some blunders exposed by the CAG are from the past before my administration came into office. I therefore urge all responsible parties to make sure that next year’s report will be clean, otherwise you should tender your resignation before I sack you.”

Dr Mwinyi added that the unaccounted sum was significant, and that if the problem would recur, he would conclude that no lessons had been learnt and would have no choice but to take drastic action.

In his presentation of the audit report, Dr Abass narrated events of misuse of public resources through overpayments, non-contractual payments, payments without actual delivery of services or goods and disregarding the public procurement guidelines.

In his quest to become the eighth president of the Isle, Dr Mwinyi had promised that he would be tough and rough against corruption once voted, saying that laughing at corrupt, embezzlers and negligent public officials would drag the country’s feet.

During that time, the President, who is also a notable anti-corruption crusader, disclosed his plan, saying: “My plan is to bring quick development to the Isles and therefore, crooked public servants should be extremely intimidated as we are going to clean-up.”

According to the report, public fund mismanagement was contributed by a reluctant mode shown by some of permanent secretaries in respective ministries as they have failed to take charge of public funds disbursed for development projects, yet they have been trained for such.

On the other hand, the CAG report also pointed out some dissatisfactions related to financial management in the government central fund, agriculture ministry, the Zanzibar’s JKU, Zanzibar Airports Authority (ZAA) Water Authority, Zanzibar Revenue Board (ZRB) and other local councils.

Moreover, the report also applauded some government institutions that have performed well, these include the Ministry of State President Office Regional Administration and Special Departments, The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, The Fire and Rescue Force (KZU), and Zanzibar Election Commission.

Others include Zanzibar State Trading Corporation (ZSTC), Zanzibar Housing Corporation (ZHC), Zanzibar Drugs Control and Enforcement Authority (ZDCEA), The State University of Zanzibar (SUZA), Zanzibar Ports Corporation (ZPC) and some other local government authorities.