Samia stresses accountability

DODOMA: PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has received the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) and the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) performance and audit reports for 2022/2023 financial year, insisting that performance, transparency and accountability in her government have increased compared to previous years.

Dr Samia is also happy to see that unqualified audit opinion reports have increased by 99 per cent as revenue collections in taxes increased by 8 per cent, according to the CAG report that was handed over to her at Chamwino State House in Dodoma on Thursday.

Equally, in the same fiscal year, according to the 2022/23 annual performance report presented to her by the Director General of PCCB, Commissioner of Police (CP) Salum Hamduni, the anti-corruption watchdog managed to save a total of 87.59bn/- from development projects.

Speaking immediately after receiving the two crucial reports, the Head of State expressed her satisfaction by her lieutenants at the central and local governments, Public Entities (PEs) as well as those implementing various development projects.

“Transparency and accountability are our core business within the government and despite the challenges that have been highlighted by the two institutions, we are glad that this is what allows us to correct our mistakes and move forward,’’ she said.

Dr Samia added that the government heavily invested in the CAG and PCCB offices in order to intensify trust from citizens and the international community.

She added that the flaws that had been unveiled in the two reports would be properly addressed by government officials.

“These are just preliminary reports, I believe that government officials involved in some rot and have been uncovered will come out to provide answers after I present the CAG report in Parliament, as per the requirement of the constitution. What the PCCB boss has also revealed will also be addressed within the government,’’ she added.

Presenting the annual audit reports for 2022/23, CAG Charles Kicheere said that the National Audit Office (NAOT) presented a total of 1,209 financial statements, out of which 222 were presented to Local Government Authorities (LGAs), Public Entities and Corporations (215), Central Government (475), Political parties (19) and that 299 others were presented to Development Projects.

Out of 1,209 financial statements, 1,197 (about 99 per cent) were unqualified opinions, 9 were qualified opinion (0.7per cent), 1 adverse opinion (0.1 per cent) and two disclaimer of opinion (0.2 per cent).

“The audit documents show that the preparation of the accounts is satisfactory; the procedures and preparation of the accounts have largely considered international standards,” he stated.

In her speech, Dr Samia noted: “By seeing that unqualified opinion audit reports have increased by 99 per cent, it is evident that when it comes to government performance, transparency and accountability, we are surely moving forward.’’ According to Mr Kichere, as of June 30, 2023, the government’s debt stood at 82.25tri/- equivalent to an increase of 15 per cent, compared to the previous fiscal year.

However, the CAG was quick to point out that the debt is still sustainable. According to the CAG report, Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) collected total tax collections of 22.58tri/- in 2022/23, an increase of 8 per cent compared to collections of 20.94tr/- in 2021/22 financial year.

“This is a great job by the CAG’s office, and now you can see that revenue collections have hiked,’’ added Dr Samia, paying tribute to the PCCB: “We have been informed here by the anticorruption Czar that loopholes for revenue loss have been tightened that is why you can see an increase in revenue. “The two reports will help us to address flaws because we have noted that the loss we incurred last year and a year before is not similar to the loss we incurred in the last fiscal year, and we expect that next year, some of them will hopefully not be repeated,’’ stated Dr Samia.