ARUSHA: DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Dr Doto Biteko has called on accountants across Africa to fully embrace their profession as a cornerstone for economic development.
He expressed the crucial role accountants play in shaping the future of economies, urging them to uphold professional integrity while recognising the transformative impact of their work on global growth.
Dr Biteko made the remarks on Wednesday while representing President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan at the closing of the 2nd meeting of the African Association of Accountants General (AAAG) held at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC).
Dr Biteko added that accountants should serve as good advisers to their leaders to help them make sound decisions, noting that the African Union (AU) relies on professionals to make the continent benefit from its resources.
“The AU depends on you, the song of Africa being rich will remain in books if we don’t take action,” Dr Biteko added.
He further reminded the accountants that the African continent has more than 600 million people, most of whom live in extreme poverty, so they are responsible for managing financial resources faithfully.
“Give good advice so that we can improve people’s lives but also be self-reliant from the resources we have,” Dr Biteko stressed.
In addition, he urged the accountants to develop themselves technologically so that they are not left behind due to the rapid development of science and technology in the world saying studies show that by 2030, Artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to work 100,000 times faster than it does now.
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For her part, AAAG Chairperson, who is also the Accountant General of the Kingdom of Lesotho, CPA Malehlonolo Mahase, said that their focus as accountants is to restore confidence of citizens through their work, leadership and technical heads of Treasury Department in their countries and as the stewards of the treasures of our country.
According to her, AAAG also looks at how they strengthen their systems, ensure compliance with their public financial management and accountability in their countries so as to optimise service delivery through latest efficiency and effective practices, both in human resource and in technology.
“So, the resolutions that we have come to include governance and oversight, building strong governance structures in Africa, having strong legal frameworks and financial systems to ensure accountability and efficient resource youth,” she noted.
She added “We need to have technology integration use of AI cyber security tools and other integrated financial management systems, capacity building, public engagement, to foster citizen participation in budgeting to promote trust and transparency.”
For his part, Deputy Minister for Finance, Mr Hamad Chande said that he believes that all the discussions during the meeting will bring positive results to African governments and make citizens restore trust in their governments and accountants due to their taxes.
Over 800 participants from Tanzania attended the meeting with more than 1,500 participants from 26 African countries. The next host of AAAG will be Ghana.
