EDITORIAL: Zanzibar’s failure to pay power bills disgraceful

The drive for good governance has gained prominence under Tanzania’s multi-party political dispensation that is a little over 20 years now. Coupled with today’s freer media, which is a far cry from the restrictions that defined the single-party era, the demand for better governance is now bolder and louder.

The Controller and Auditor General’s   (CAG) annual reports for the Union and Zanzibar governments are now public documents. Their contents are debated in and outside the legislature on either side of the Indian Ocean channel. Demands for explanations from, and sanctions against institutions cited adversely there, are earnest. Previously, the sweep-under-the-carpet culture  prevailed,  under which alarming exposures didn’t elicit any firm sanctioning, thereby perpetuating the culture of impunity.

Zanzibar’s  2012/13 CAG report shows  that the government, and some of its key institutions, owe the Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (Zeco) Sh13.6 billion in unpaid bills.

As the seat of power, the President’s Office (PO), which owes Sh174.2 million, is supposed to be a trend setter for ministries and institutions over which it superintends.

Now that is the case, but in the negative sense. For example, the Pemba Water Authority owes Zeco Sh174.2 million.

What moral authority would the PO have, then, to complain against water consumers who don’t pay their bills?

The situation is the same at Union level, for the financial starvation of Tanesco being mainly attributed to huge unpaid government bills.

The two governments should polish their act on that score as a demonstration of commitment to promote good governance.

Otherwise, any loud talk on the concept cannot make a firm impression on ministries, institutions and wananchi at large.

These range from a small trader who is obliged to repay a bank loan, to a ministerial accounting officer who must process settlement of a Tanesco bill.