JK gets tough on embezzlers

Daily News;

President Jakaya Kikwete has said that the government will take to task all government officials who misuse, steal or embezzle public funds, saying their actions could affect the national economy just as badly as the current global financial meltdown.

In his New Year message to the nation last night, President Kikwete said that effective this year, he would tell government auditors to hand over all such culprits to state legal organs, a new departure from past laxity.

He said such move would instill financial discipline among government workers, who also risk imprisonment if proved guilty. President Kikwete expressed concern that public resources and funds were being embezzled and looted routinely, costing the nation dearly.

He told the nation that he has directed the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) and office of the Controller and Auditor-General (CAG), to work closely to eradicate the malpractice.

He said he has since directed the two institutions to act more resolutely and use their legal powers and resources to take the culprits to task. The president observed that despite the country’s good economic performance, Tanzanians should brace for the potential impacts of the financial meltdown in some areas of the economy.

He said due to such crisis, incomes from tourism would drop by between seven to 18 per cent. He also said that cotton prices in the world market had gone down from 82 UK pound cents in March this year to 45 pound cent in July this year. Likewise, he said he had been informed that the price of Arabica coffee in the world market had declined from $158 per 50-kg bag in August this year to $104 to December 18 this year, representing a 34 per cent fall.

He also said the prices of Robusta had fallen from $96.6 to $65.46 per 50kg bag under the period under review. President Kikwete also warned some politicians against the urge to cause disharmony and violence for their personal interests, thus jeopardising the prevailing peace and tranquility.

He cautioned such people to refrain from such behaviour or they would only themselves to blame when the government starts acting tough on them. The president also asked politicians to act responsibly, get behind hearsay and discourage those politicians who want to destabilise the country.

On measures to strengthen productive sectors, President Kikwete said agriculture would be given further push in order to mitigate the effects of high food prices, control inflation and support agro-processing industries in order to add value to local produce.

On usage of funds recovered from theft of External Payment Arrears (EPA) account, the President said 30bn/- had already been injected to subsidize fertilizer, 10bn/- for agro-chemicals, 10bn/- for veterinary chemicals and 10bn/- for loaning farmers through Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB).

He also said that he intends to establish an Investor Complaints Bureau to speed up the complaint handling process for investors, expressing optimism that the development of infrastructure in the Western Circuit (Kigoma