DAR ES SALAAM: THE Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) has reported significant milestone in the fight against corruption in the country leading to strengthened investment activities, improved revenue collection, ensuring responsible public spending and promoting good governance.
The efforts have also yielded results in enhancing discipline, transparency, integrity, accountability in public service, as well as in delivering quality services to citizens and ensuring value for money in the execution of development projects.
These achievements were outlined yesterday by PCCB Director General Crispin Chalamila while presenting the bureau’s performance report for the 2023/2024 financial year to President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the State House in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Chalamila said that the successes are backed by a report from the international organisation -Transparency International-which released its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in February this year.
According to the report, Tanzania ranks second among the ten East African Community member states for having the lowest number of incidents of corruption.
He explained that the report indicated that in 2024, Tanzania scored 41 out of 100 and ranked 82 out of 180 countries surveyed, compared to a score of 40 out of 100 and a rank of 87 in 2023.
“Madam President, according to this benchmark, I am pleased to inform you that our country has continued to improve in reducing corruption progressively from 2014 to 2024,” said Mr Chalamila.
Mr Chalamila said, the report indicates that Tanzania has increased its score by 10 during this period and is also one of the four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that are strengthening their fight against corruption.
“PCCB assures you that it will continue to enhance efforts in controlling acts of corruption before they occur in public resources, particularly in the implementation of development projects,” he said.
He said PCCB has effectively monitored use of public resources in the implementation of 1,773 development projects worth 11.48tri/-, including the construction of referral hospitals in Songwe, Katavi, Kigoma, Singida, Geita and Tabora regions and the Msalato International Airport in Dodoma.
Some deficiencies were identified in the monitored projects, including non-compliance with construction regulations in certain projects.
Regarding identified deficiencies, Mr Chalamila said that the bureau investigated 92 projects worth 65.16bn/-, a decrease from the 171 projects valued at 143.35bn/- that were found with discrepancies and investigated in the 2022/2023 financial year.
He said PCCB conducted an analysis of the withholding tax collection and submission system in 101 councils and found that 52 are collecting the tax. Of these 41 councils are fully compliant with their submissions, while 11 are submitting inadequate amounts.
Additionally, 35 out of 49 councils that had not previously submitted the tax have now submitted the relevant tax to the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA). Mr Chalamila said that the unsubmitted amounts by the analysed councils were 186.3m/- for 2021/2022 and 1.38bn/- for 2022/2023 but after the PCCB’s intervention, 2.15bn/- was successfully collected and submitted to the TRA.
He highlighted corruption loopholes in the land sector, noting that compliance with the Ministry of Lands’ 2020 Client Service Charter is below 50 per cent, particularly in issuing land title deeds, recommending the ministry to improve personnel availability and enhance service delivery resources.
Mr Chalamila also reported that PCCB saved 30.19bn/- in 2023/2024, that includes 6.6bn/- from TIB for loans which were disbursed without following procedures and 6.8bn/- in taxes collected but not submitted by Ilala City Council collectors. A total of 2.15bn/- has been saved due to evasion of withheld taxes.
He further explained that PCCB investigated 728 cases, including 17 grand corruption cases. From 285 allegations, 145 were closed and 140 were prosecuted.
ALSO READ: Samia reacts to PCCB, CAG reports
He said PCCB has enhanced cooperation with local and international partners, including Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE), to integrate anti-corruption topics into educational curricula from primary to university level.
Moreover, Mr Chalamila outlined plans to strengthen anti-corruption efforts, control electoral corruption upcoming General Election, and enhance infrastructure through ICT integration in operations.
