Kikwete blasts ‘dirty’ bosses
President Jakaya Kikwete yesterday warned that the government will from
the next financial year sack senior executives for failure to curb
losses in their offices.
KILASA MTAMBALIKE
PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete yesterday warned that the government will from the next financial year sack senior executives for failure to curb losses in their offices. “All government executives must take seriously the report of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG).
“They have to pull up their socks otherwise they are going to lose their jobs,” the president told regional administration and local government top officials at a meeting in Dar es Salaam.
The president expressed concern over consistent bad reports being issued by the CAG which reflects massive losses of cash and materials through poor book-keeping, failure to adhere to procurement procedures and outright theft.
“From now on, accounting officers in the ministries, government departments, regions, municipal and district councils must seriously deliberate on the reports.
“All those who will fail to change the situation will lose their jobs,” he stressed at the meeting that brought together regional commissioners, district commissioners, regional administrative secretaries and district executive directors.
The meeting was also attended by the Prime Minister, Mr Edward Lowassa, and the CAG, Mr Ludovick Utouh, who presented a brief version of the report.
The CAG said accounts of 27 ministries and departments, representing 39 per cent of the entire government system, received adverse reports during the 2005/2006 financial year.
Mr Utouh said that many district councils failed to present bank reconciliation statements and that reflected a loss of over 8bn/-. “You have a situation where books show money that has not been deposited in the banks,” Mr Utouh said.
Many district and municipal councils were lax at collecting revenue. He said Kinondoni Municipal Council, for example, failed to collect 1.2 bn/- in the 2005/2006 financial year.
Source: Daily News
