Billions
of shillings have been spent on schools, water projects and electricity
over the past three months - money that wasn�t previously available
President John Magufuli.
“There are no customers,” the 26-year-old man said in an interview
at the restaurant on Sokoine Drive on the eastern fringe of the coastal
city. “This place used to be full all the time.”
Since his inauguration three months ago, Magufuli, 56, has canceled
Independence Day celebrations and barred civil servants from sending
Christmas cards as part of a campaign pledge to tackle graft and curb
waste of public resources. The money- saving measures generated a meme
on Twitter that asked #WhatWouldMagufuliDo?
Tanzania, Africa’s third-biggest gold producer, ranks in the bottom
half of Berlin-based Transparency International’s Corruption
Perceptions Index, below other African nations such as Ivory Coast and
Mozambique. Per capita income in the nation of 49 million people is
$955, well below the sub-Saharan African average of $1,638, World Bank
data shows.
Drinking tea
On his first day at work, the president conducted an impromptu tour
of the Finance Ministry’s offices, where he demanded to know the
whereabouts of officials whose desks were unoccupied. While Magufuli is
soft-spoken, he earned a reputation as a hard-driving boss and was
nicknamed “tingatinga,” Swahili for bulldozer, in his previous position
as the country’s minister of works.
“Who sits here? What is his name?” Magufuli asked officials at the
ministry in Swahili, footage aired on the Tanzania Broadcasting Corp.,
the state-owned broadcaster. “You’re the boss here, where are the
others? They’ve gone to drink tea?”
Magufuli fired at least seven government agency heads since coming
to office Nov. 5, including the head of the country’s anti-corruption
body, the chief of Tanzania Railways and a top immigration official. The
dismissals signal the president’s intent to stamp his authority on the
new government, said Ahmed Salim, a Dubai-based analyst with Teneo
Intelligence.
Under Magufuli’s predecessor, Jakaya Kikwete, perceptions of
corruption in Tanzania increased over the past four years, according to
Transparency International.
“Systemic issue”
He is “trying to distance how his government will do business
compared to his predecessor,” Salim said. “However, because corruption
in Tanzania is a systemic issue, it is unclear how the high-profile
sackings will translate to a real decrease in corruption in the public
sector.”
Magufuli’s efficiency drive has also focused on tax collection.
Takings exceeded 1.4 trillion shillings ($643 million) in December,
beating the government’s target by 12 percent, according to Finance
Minister Philip Mpango. In November, the president suspended the head of
the Tanzania Revenue Authority and ordered a probe into hundreds of
shipping containers with goods worth 80 billion shillings that went
missing at Dar es Salaam’s port. About two dozen port employees were
fired or suspended.
Revenue boost
Improved tax collection means Magufuli can deliver on campaign
pledges to the nation’s 52 million people, Finance Ministry Permanent
Secretary Servacius Likwelile told reporters Jan. 30. The Treasury has
spent 37.5 billion shillings on school grants, 46.3 billion shillings on
water projects and another 80 billion shillings on an electricity plant
in Dar es Salaam over the past three months—money that wasn’t
previously available.
Already with one of the continent’s highest economic growth rates,
Tanzania has yet to fully benefit from East Africa’s second-largest
natural gas reserves. The economy may expand 7.2% this year, compared
with 7 percent in 2015, according to the Treasury. The government
intends to cut its budget shortfall in the fiscal year beginning July 1
and increase spending.
While many Tanzanians laud Magufuli’s zeal, curbing corruption will
require overhauling the civil service’s entire work culture and moral
fabric, a task that will be impossible for the president to execute
single-handedly, according Nicholas Lekule, manager for policy and
budget analysis at Policy Forum, a network of 70 civil society advocacy
groups.
“The way he operates, his move is more of a one-man show and as
such it may not yield much,” Lekule said in e-mailed response to
questions. “What is interesting, however, is the fact that some public
officials have been held to account, which in a way may instigate some
sense of accountability.”
-Bloomberg
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