EDITORIAL: FINDINGS ON WORKPLACE HARASSMENT SOBERING
The findings of a recent study on violence and other forms of harassment at the workplace in Tanzania have been presented at a Policy Forum breakfast debate in Dar es Salaam.
Presented by High Court of Tanzania Advocate Harold Sungusia, the findings sought to highlight the prevalence of workplace harassment involving both sexes – and the sore need for appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks that are effectively enforced as a matter of course.
The presentation also called upon the relevant authorities to ratify and adopt soonest the Violence and Harassment Convention C190 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Adopted by ILO at its Conference in Geneva on June 21, 2019, the Convention – which is a legally-binding ILO Instrument – “addresses gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work”.
In that regard, ILO recommends ending violence and harassment pronto against women and men in/at the workplace.
Perhaps not surprising, the Convention has been applauded by the Rutgers University, New Jersey-based Centre for Women’s Global Leadership in the United States (CWGL).
A member of the Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL), CWGL was established to “develop and facilitate women’s leadership for women’s human rights and social justice worldwide”.
We have gone to such great lengths here to highlight the importance of human rights and gender parity at workplaces.
As we reported in these august pages yesterday, Advocate Sungusia in his presentation lamented that Tanzania currently has insufficient data on the nature, type and impact(s) of violence-cum-harassment at the workplace – compounded by general lack of transparency.
We, therefore, need to urgently work on this, as well as revisit our policy and laws. This would enable us to more effectively address the related problems, adopting such methods as stress and other mental health management sessions and other improvements at the workplace.
CAG IS ONLY DOING HIS JOB
Not surprisingly, the Controller and Auditor General’s 2019/20 report has set tongues wagging. It has attracted both praise and criticism, with some commending the CAG’s office for compiling a candid report, and others questioning the timing of what they see as “malicious” content meant to settle a score.
Suffice it to say here that the CAG’s detractors are way off the mark. However, that is not entirely surprising given that the CAG’s office, which is supposed to operate independently, has been subjected to overt political pressure and interference in recent years.
Simply put, the CAG’s overriding responsibility is to reveal misuse of taxpayers’ money, not to cast the government in a favourable light as far as the expenditure of public funds is concerned. If there are any skeletons in the closet, it is the CAG’s duty to expose them, and that is exactly what has been done with regard to the latest audit report.
What Tanzanians should be wondering is why precious little has been done over the years to hold to account those adversely mentioned in successive CAG reports.
In what has become a well-practised routine, CAG reports are usually presented to the President amid pomp and pageantry before the CAG holds a news briefing and details earth-shaking revelations after the documents are submitted to Parliament. And then? Nothing. This must change.
