Magufuli sends home anti graft boss Hoseah for incompetence

Tanzanian President Joseph Pombe Magufuli joins Dar es Salaam residents in cleaning the town on December 9, 2015. He sacked the director general of the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, Edward Hoseah, for incompetence on December 17, 2015. PHOTO | DANIEL HAYDUK

What you need to know:

  • Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Thursday sacked the director general of the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, Edward Hoseah, for incompetence.
  • Magufuli expressed dissatisfaction over the way PCCB failed to investigate corruption at the Dar es Salaam port that led to loss of government revenue in terms of tax evasion.
  • Mr Magufuli has uncovered tax evasion worth millions of US dollars at the Dar es Salaam port and the Tanzania Revenue Authority.
  • Magufuli also fired four PCCB senior officials for travelling outside the country without a presidential permit.

DAR ES SALAAM

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Thursday sacked the director general of the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, Edward Hoseah, for incompetence.

Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue said in a statement that President Magufuli was not satisfied by the way the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) was performing its duties.”

The President expressed dissatisfaction over the way PCCB failed to investigate corruption at the Dar es Salaam port that led to loss of government revenue in terms of tax evasion,” said Mr Sefue.

Since he took office on November 5, 2015, Mr Magufuli has uncovered tax evasion worth millions of US dollars at the Dar es Salaam port and the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).

Mr Sefue said President Magufuli appointed Valentine Mlowola as PCCB’s acting Director General.

BANNED FOREIGN TRAVEL

President Magufuli also fired four PCCB senior officials for travelling outside the country without a presidential permit, Mr Sefue said.

Mr Magufuli had recently banned unnecessary foreign travel by public servants to cut down government spending and vowed to use the monetary savings on the provision of social services, including education and health.

Last month, TRA Commissioner General, Rished Bade, and five other senior TRA officials were suspended pending investigations into how taxes amounting $40 million for 349 cargo containers were not paid for at the Dar es Salaam port.

Seven other senior TRA officials and an official with Azam Inland Container Depot last month appeared in court facing charges of economic sabotage and causing loss of 6.3 million U.S. dollars in unpaid taxes to the government.

Late last month, President Magufuli ordered the cancellation of Independence Day celebrations in a move aimed at reigning in unnecessary public expenditure.

CLEAN- UP CAMPAIGN
In a statement, the President said funds meant for the Uhuru fete would instead be used for a major clean-up campaign aimed at stemming the spread of cholera in the country.

Tanzania celebrates her independence from British rule annually on December 9.

“It’s so shameful that we are spending huge amounts of money to celebrate 54 years of self-rule while our people are dying of cholera,” the President said in a statement read by the Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue.

While the Chief Secretary did not say how much money had been budgeted for this year’s Uhuru fete, the event itself is a red-carpet affair normally marked by elaborate celebrations including a military parade at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

In the weeks since he assumed office, President Magufuli has imposed a form of austerity on the country’s famously free-spending civil servants, warning in his maiden speech to the National Assembly Friday that days of misuse of public funds were over.

Across the country, the majority of Tanzanians seem to have welcomed the raft of austerity measures President Magufuli has announced since his inauguration on November 5.

But his latest move surprise many, who, each year, religiously look forward to celebrating Independence Day in style. Hundreds of millions of shillings are spent on the celebrations each year across the country.