Analysts, activists push for accountability in public resources 

Controller and Auditor General (CAG) Charles Kichere

ANALISTS and activists have stressed the need for enhanced accountability in the public sector in order to curb embezzlement of tax payers’ money as indicated in the Controller and Auditor General report for 2021/2022 financial year.

They said that the government should act tough on swindlers of public funds to serve as a lesson to other officials and end such malpractice which has been recurring in several CAG reports.

The CAG report released last week indicated that the disbursement of government’s funds from the national budget to the recurrent and development spending has increased from 9 per cent in 2020/21 to 25 per cent in 2021/22 fiscal year but also uncovered shocking financial malpractice.

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Speaking in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday during a pre budget dialogue, the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) Executive Director Ms Lilian Liundi said civil society organisations have a role to play in curbing the loopholes for the loss of taxpayers’ money.

The pre-budget dialogue organised by TGNP brought together various stakeholders to discuss and contemplate on various expectations of the next national budget with special focus on gender responsive budget.

She said the allocation of gender responsive budget is on one hand crucial but monitoring of its implementation will on the other hand help to control misuse of public resources.

She said it is important for the taxpayers’ money to be used as intended so as to bring changes to the society.

“It is important for CSOs to monitor these budgets … gender responsive budget is crucial in enhancing accountability because it looks at how the funds are disbursed based on the needs of the respective group or area”.

“We continue to call upon the government to take tough action against all people implicated in the CAG report,” she said.

Ms Liundi further noted that gender responsive budget does not end in allocation of resources but also monitoring to see how people’s lives are being transformed …if the funds are being misused then their lives cannot be changed.

On his part, Africa Youth Transformation Head of Programme, Arafati Lesheve said that the CAG report has clearly indicated the shortfalls and challenges, calling for improvement in the areas identified.

He urged the government to effectively respond to the queries raised by the CAG and ensure that they don’t recur in the coming audit reports.

“Officials entrusted with power should be held accountable to curb theft and embezzlement of public funds,” he said.

Special Seats Councilor, Beatrice Edward said that leaders should abide by laws, regulations and procedures in order to avoid the loss of public resources.

“I believe that if everyone will stick to these there will be no corruption nor embezzlement of taxpayers’ money,” she said.

Idd Mziray from Resource Person Gender and Inclusion said that said accountability among public officials is still a challenge in various areas as indicated in the CAG report.

“Accountability in public sector is the only solution for getting good CAG reports”, he said.

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