UP to 60 billion/- was looted from government coffers in just one week in yet another scandal involving dubious public procurement deals by the Tanzania Police Force and the Ministry of Home Affairs, President John Magufuli has disclosed."There are reports that someone was paid billions of money shillings at the end of last year for police uniforms, but not a single uniform was supplied to the police force...I would expect that those responsible will one day face justice," Magufuli said at State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
"Some say (the deal was worth) 40bn/-, others say it was 50bn/- or 60bn/-. This money was released within one week," he added in his address to newly-promoted senior police officers.
The revelation comes on the heels of another fishy deal between the police force and a Dar es Salaam-based private firm, Lugumi Enterprises Limited, which was paid 37bn/- to install automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) in police stations across the country but failed to do so.
Just last April, Magufuli publicly questioned a $300 million (over 650 billion/-) deal between the police force and Mara World, another private firm owned by a Ugandan billionaire, for mega real estate projects in Dar es Salaam.
Asserting yesterday that both the police force and home affairs ministry have histories of dubious deals, he said this was now expected to change with new leaderships in the police and ministry.
According to the president, while up to 60bn/- was squandered on police uniforms that were never delivered, the cash-strapped police force couldn’t pay a few billion shillings in tax to the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) for the clearance of 77 police vehicles from the customs department.
This, he said, led to the taxman impounding the whole consignment.
Magufuli told police chiefs to clean up the image of the force and root out corrupt elements. He also told them to remove dishonest civilian employees from the force, saying they should be redeployed elsewhere in the civil service.
The president cited the recent suspension of the police force’s chief accounting officer, Frank Msaki, for allegedly pinching over 305 million/- from police allowances, saying the matter could have perhaps been avoided if the accountant was not a civilian.
Magufuli also addressed concerns over reports that cargo volumes at the Dar es Salaam port are falling sharply, saying unscrupulous business people are now avoiding the port due to his administration’s ongoing crackdown on tax dodgers and other anti-corruption measures.
"Many ships that were bringing in goods without paying tax have stopped coming to Dar es Salaam and have gone elsewhere to evade the taxes," he said.
He also defended the government's move to introduce value added tax (VAT) on tourism services with effect from July 1 this year, stating:
"We want all tourists coming to Tanzania to pay VAT. It's better to have 500,000 tourists who pay their taxes than 2 million tourists who don't pay."
The country’s tourism industry has been thrown into turmoil after the government imposed the 18 per cent VAT levy on services related to the sector, with industry stakeholders saying the tax will cause a significant increase in the price of such services including park entry fees and accommodations.
Tanzania is already regarded as one of the most expensive tourist destinations in Africa, hence the additional tax could cripple the sector, according to some industry players.
Meanwhile, Magufuli was yesterday critical of the community policing initiative better known as 'Polisi Jamii', saying he has never been a fan of the initiative since his time as a cabinet minister.
He told the police to get tougher on crime and said he was impressed by the no-nonsense approach of the force’s in-charge of operations and training, commissioner of police Nsato Marijani.
He said incidents of attacks on police stations by criminals who also steal police weapons must be put to an end.
Magufuli also said his government will continue to implement strong cost-cutting measures and seek to ensure that spending from state coffers is strictly controlled.
"I am told that some hotels in Sinza (a Dar es Salaam suburb) are running out of business…so what? The people who used to pay for accommodation in these hotels are employees of this government," he said.
"Some (public) officials were so arrogant, they used to fly off to Dubai every Friday and spend the weekend there and return on Monday using government funds that were supposed to finance development projects," he added.
The president reiterated his view that a few people have been benefitting from the country's resources while the majority of the people were suffering.
"This country has been looted," he said.
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