Will Tanzania President Magufuli submit CAG Prof Assad’s 2017/18 audit report to Parliament?
What you need to know:
What started like a mere ‘battle of wits’, pitying the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), ProfMussa Assad, and the Parliament, could spark a constitutional crisis.
Article 143 (4) of the Constitution, requires the CAG to submit his audit reports to the President, who then submits it to the National Assembly in seven days of its sitting for that period
Article 62 (1) of the Constitution recognises the President as being part of the Parliament.
Dar es Salaam. What started like a mere ‘battle of wits’, pitying the Controller and Auditor General (CAG), Prof Mussa Assad, and the Parliament, could precipitate a constitutional crisis.
In the next few days, it would become clear whether Parliament overreached itself in Tuesday’s decision to stop working with the Prof Assad, a key plank in the National Assembly’s role to oversight the Government.
Pundits are raising several questions regarding the practicability of Parliament’s resolution and how it affects the work of the National Audit Office whose constitutional head is Prof Assad.
Article 143 (4) of the Constitution stipulates that in the next five days, President John Magufuli who, according to Article 62 (1) of the Constitution, is also part of the Parliament, should present the CAG report to the same Parliament which has blacklisted the report’s author.
Prof Assad presented his audit report for the financial year 2017/18 to the President as required by the Constitution on March 28. Parliament begun sitting yesterday, April 02, 2019, meaning the report should be tabled by April 8.
The question is: Will President John Magufuli now direct the submission of the CAG report before the National Assembly as required under Article 143 (4) of the Constitution?
“If the Parliament will not work with the CAG, it will bring the President into a major constitutional crisis….Within seven days, the President is required to submit the report, prepared by the CAG, Prof Assad, to Parliament….If he does not submit it, he will have violated the Constitution and if he does, he will have disrespected the Parliament,” writes Bishop of Karagwe Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Dr Benson Bagonza.
Former long serving speaker of parliament, Mr Pius Msekwa, told a local radio station that the move by Parliament was unprecedented, noting that the CAG does not work with the Parliament alone.
Prof Assad himself warned early on Wednesday, 03 April 2019, that the decision may result into a serious constitutional crisis.
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“My office has already submitted the audit report to the President and it must be submitted to parliament in 7 days. It must be made a public document soon after submission. If this is not done, it will mean breach of the constitution,’’ Prof Assad said on the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC).
