Take CAG report to House of Reps, Mwinyi directs

PRESIDENT Hussein Mwinyi on Thursday received Zanzibar’s Controller and Auditor General (CAG) audit reports for 2021/2022 fiscal year, directing the Minister of State- Constitution, Legal Affairs, Public Service and Good Governance Mr Haroum Ali Suleiman to present it to the House of Representatives.

The reports were presented to him by the CAG Dr Othman Abbasi Ali at the Mnazi Mmoja based State House in Zanzibar yesterday, at an event that was attended by Minister Suleiman and other dignitaries.

Speaking after handing over the reports to the President, CAG said the batch contains seven reports including the Central Government (all Ministries and institutions); Independent Organisations and Institutions; the one for the Special Department and its institutions and that of ICT systems in the government.

He mentioned other reports as the report on parastatals and the report on the use of International Monetary Funds (IMF) Covid-19 rescue funds and value for money for various projects undertaken in the Isles.

Dr Ali explained “The reports are of two types, including the donors’ support development projects and the government funded projects and reports on technical matters.

“When we undertake construction projects, we have to conduct auditing to find out the value of money. We have done this audit for the recently executed projects under health and education sectors. We scrutinised all 12 schools constructed recently,” explained the CAG.

Article 112 (5) of the Zanzibar constitution empowers the Comptroller and Auditor General to conduct audit and hand over the report to the President of Zanzibar and the Chairman of the Revolutionary Council for action against defaulters.

Meanwhile, President Mwinyi yesterday met Norwegian Ambassador to Tanzania, Elizabeth Jacobsen, who visited the Isles State House to bid him farewell after completing her service period in the country.

During their talks, Dr Mwinyi thanked the government of Norway for its efforts to continue supporting Tanzania, including Zanzibar, on various development programmes.

President Mwinyi explained to the envoy that Zanzibar has benefited from Norway in various areas including the health, electricity and education sectors. Norway supported connecting Pemba to the national grid through Tanga Region, supported rural electrification and delivering better health services to the people.

In addition, Dr Mwinyi said that Zanzibar’s plan to have its own source of power to provide reliable electricity service to the people of Unguja and Pemba, instead of relying on electricity from Tanzania mainland.

In response, Ambassador Elizabeth praised Tanzania for maintaining peace, unity and political stability, explaining that Tanzania is a model country in Africa and elsewhere in the world, as a democratic nation that respects human rights and promote smooth democracy.

The envoy promised to the president that the government of Norway will continue supporting Tanzania including Zanzibar in the development sectors.

She said the government of Norway is proud of bilateral relationship that has existed with Tanzania for more than 50 years. She said the cooperation is in various areas, including education (cooperation between universities of Norway and Tanzania), which fosters friendship between the people of the two countries.