EDITORIAL: TAKE FINANCE GOVERNANCE PROJECT ACROSS THE NATION

One of the things which were revealed in a recent study was that some local government authorities in Tanzania more or less habitually exaggerate their public revenue generation – usually doing so by inflating collection figures and related data. The study was conducted as part of the Good Financial Governance (GFG) Project of the German Society for International Cooperation (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ).

A specialist of the project, Mr Raymond Nzali, said the study found that, for example, only 12 out of 100 businesses registered in a local government council out of the 21 such councils that were studied “do pay service tax...” This, Mr Nzali concluded, calls for the need to focus on that area to enable local authorities to collect three times more than they currently do – thus empowering the councils towards becoming more independent financially.

How true, we say, agreeing with Mr Nzali on the way forward in making local government financially independent from the central government and its partners in development, including the donor community.

The occasion for the foregoing was the formal opening of a three-day training course for directors, planning officers and financial experts from the three town councils of Kibaha, Chalinze and Mkuranga in Coast Region, conducted in Kibaha Town. The overriding objective of the training is to improve good financial governance and, at the same time, strengthen public revenue collection systems in the local government stakes.

To that very noble end, GIZ is collaborating with the Tanzania government through its Finance ministry and the Regional Administration and Local Government wing in the President’s Office (PO-RALG).

Local government authorities in Tanzania are tasked with the role of delivering products and services that have high local/public/good characteristics to the people within their respective jurisdictions.

Human-oriented products

This is especially in the forms of human-oriented products and services in the crucial areas of health, education, water, sanitation, social and economic infrastructure, security and safety, as well as in sports and entertainment. But, all these cost lots of money to finance and deliver in a situation where local taxes currently make up less than five percent of the country’s total tax revenues.

Hence the decision of GIZ and other well-wishers to step in and help in one way or another to build the capacity of local government officials.

This is with a view to enabling them to develop an efficient and more effective public revenue collection strategies and vehicles on a sustainable basis.

For starters, the Good Financial Governance Project has taken off in only 21 local government councils. But Tanzania Mainland alone has at least 40 urban councils and 132 rural district councils, all of which badly need revamping on how they levy, collect and manage public revenues.

We, therefore, call upon GIZ and its collaborators to seriously consider extending the Good Financial Governance Project to other administrative councils across the land.

And – virtually with the same breath – we also call upon other development partners and well-wishers to take a leaf out of the GIZ book and implement a similar project in other parts of the country as well.