TAFAKARI

Tanzania Cronic Corruption:

“Tanzania needs a complete and immediate revolution in the system of accountability and leadership,” says activist Ananilea Nkya, who won an award from the US embassy earlier last year for her “courage”.

 Two converging opportunity makes the above headline probable. First, the current PCCB team under Hosea is a toothless dog. Second, President Jakaya Kikwete(JK) fondness for selecting women in position of power is legendary. So put one and two together, you get Ananilea Nkya.

And a recent index drawn up by the Revenue Watch Institute put Tanzania close to the bottom of a global list in terms of the transparency of its mining and minerals deals – only Algeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Turkmenistan scored worse.

So if JK is serious about combating corruption he should act seriously. Among many reason for this decision, is the fact the PCCB head Mr. Hosea through JK under the bus, following wikileaks  revelations. So Mr Hosea was either correct in his revealings, that JK is not serious about correction or perhaps Mr Hosea himself is  incompetent and has failed to do his job.  The fact that JK has not acted till now, indicates that Mr Hosea was correct by his comments.  In this case perception is reality. For the President to be seen as aiding and abbeting corruption in the eyes of the world is an eyesore to the country’s reputation. Either way the situation as it is remains untennable.

The nature of the Corruption:

Corruption is largely caused by the absence of rule of law, and or the absence of enforcement of laws, lack of accountability, and lack of political will which means an “ineffective” government. To get rid of corruption get effective government, which means no one is above the law, and laws are known and enforced, the penalty of engaging in unscrupulous activities has to be higher enough to deter people from engaging in those activities. This problem can be solved anywhere in Africa, but most government leaders are corrupted, and the incentive to weed out corruption is therefore mute. Part of the problem in Tanzania is many leaders are not willing to abandon the plunder system, since this is how they are able to build their mansions and afford their four by fours vehicles. Notice Tanzania is not registered in any of the programs run by Transparency International Organization, based in London. This organization run programs such as monitoring Improving Honesty and Transparency in Public Administration, Monitoring of public institutions, Surveys on Corruption (Corruption Meter), and Corruption control in public procurement. This indicates that Mr. JK has never been serious in rooting out corruption, even though this would have improved Tanzania image abroad, especially to investors.  

Despite presence of civil and judiciary bodies such as court system and police, the legal system is nearly obsolete. It favours political leaders and those with high government connections. The system seem only to work while pursuing the petty thieves and those who in illegal opposition for the government. All illegal activities such as fraud, corruption, embezzlement, and theft that goes on in public sector and the government, goes unpunished. These illegal activities have led to illegal possession of material wealth of tremendous proportions by most senior governments and public officials. It is general knowledge that none of them earn enough from their salaries and perks to be able to afford those types of assets, yet JK has turned a blind eye on this matter. One would be tempted to ask why? Well, you cannot ask others to clean out their closets, while yours is full of dirt. As the bible say, you have got to remove the speck on your eye, before you do it on others. The facts remains that Ms Nkya would perhaps be the most effective tool to wipe out corruption.

Again, why is JK is not serious about eliminating corruption? The answer might simple, as some have suggested, because he and his cronies again are deeply ibenefited from it, and so he has to protect the system. By selecting the same corrupted ministers and government officials, he has added the stamp of approval to corruption. Bureaucracy is perfect cover and disguises for corruption, as no leaders are held accountable for any outcome. If one is perceived as a threat to old ways of doing things, he or she will be met by allegations of disurbing the peace and police brute force. The joke as it stands CCM stands for “Chukua Chako Mapema” is therefore legitimized.Again, in this case perception is reality. As a result the drain on government coffers from corruption continues to deepen Tanzania’s chronic budget deficit and forces the government to keep borrowing. It is estimated for every shilling budgeted in government spending, half the amount is wasted through corruption, embezzlement and fraud. The result is unfinished and poor maintained public projects, institutions, and poor infrastructure, services in both public and civil services. 

Due to prevalent corrupted culture the outcome is that few people are willing to put an honest day of work to achieve success. Largely the public seems to think; the government has plenty of money, otherwise why all the “bigwigs” from the government are living large with their Toyota Land Cruiser’s and mansions at Mbezi beach. It is now viewed the only way to acquire wealth is to join the leading party or the government or public institution and swindle your way to wealthy. “A monkey sees, a monkey does”, it’s all in perception, and leaders should understand this. Besides why take a long cut, while there is a short cut. Ultimately what determines development is the mentality of the people. If citizens are learning from their leaders, that corruption, embezzlement, theft, fraud of public property is the way to succeed, don’t be surprised why progress is untenable.

Mr. President and his government can continue to talk about all it’s done to curb corruption, while theirs hands are deep in the cookie jar.  Strikingly, legal perception of the government assets transaction that is referred as “privatization” in civilized countries will be called theft, embezzlement or fraud. The biggest companies are being sold to petty and unknown foreign companies.  Even peculiar is when a leader of a country surrenders all our national resources to the hands of the foreigners with little or no benefit to its citizens. Eventually, when it became clear there is evidence of conflict of interest of self-enrichment that implicates his cronies, in some of the deals in procurement, privatization or mining contract scandals, instead of be forthcoming he shuts down all demand for public inquiries.  This is the same leader who goes into the public, making speeches about the need for more transparency within the government. How can a President call for more transparency while blocking reports release, obstructing investigation or refuse inquiries? Indeed, hypocrisy is one thing, but there is no greater tyranny than stealing from your own poverty stricken population.

Though the parliament has attempted, however ineffective in pushing through many of these inquiries, it puts the spotlight on the justice system, which in and on itself is part of the problem. 

 Again,the call is for the President to demonstrate  integrity and honesty in the office. People believe leaders must lead by example and not by empty rhetoric. Mr. President, not all Tanzanians are seemingly foolish. For the most part Tanzania people are tolerant , not stupid. Yes we are disillusioned with a leader who tolerates corruption and ineptitude, while marginalized some of the Tanzanian opposition. So Mr. President if your trully sincere about corruption, then act. One of the first act should be changing the head of PCCB. Ms Nkya would excel in that position, simply she has  far more courage than Mr. Hosea could ever muster.