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The 9th International Anti-Corruption Conference
TANZANIA Corruption is as old as human history itself. However in Tanzania, it can be traced back to about 1980, some twenty years after self-rule. It grew to such an extent that it impacted all social and economic activities in a most fundamental way, negating development in almost all sectors.
For this reason, the fight against corruption became the election manifesto of President Benjamin William Mkapa in October 1995 who, on coming to power, appointed a commission in preparing a report ("The Warioba Report") on the state of corruption in Tanzania. This report was completed in December 1996 and was immediately made public. The report indicated that corruption both of the "petty type" (e.g. involving traffic police) and of the "grand type" (e.g. involving public tenders) was both widespread and rampant. Worst culprits were in the judiciary and the police. It was a case of corrupt politics impinging on the nation's economic performance. Efforts to combat corruption in government institutions were therefore put in place and this included, amongst others, removal of corrupt elements who held leadership positions. In addition, significant strengthening of the Prevention of Corruption Bureau was put underway. It was soon realised that an holistic approach involving all other stakeholders was needed. To demonstrate political will the head of state appointed a Minister of State responsible for Good Governance who, I believe, is here with us today. This is in clear testimony of his endorsement of the anti- corruption measures being presented here. By March 1999 the Tanzanian Government embarked on formulating a National Anti-Corruption Strategy through involvement of government ministries, NGOs, the private sector, civic associations, donors, the media, religious organisations and so forth. This strategy document sets out an anti-corruption programme covering all sectors and dealing with key elements of prevention, enforcement, raising public awareness and institution building. The strategy is predicated on a steadfast political will as well as sufficient resource allocation for implementation. It needs crucial support from the donor community, the media, the civil and the private sector. Above all, for the strategy to succeed, the political will and the support has to be sustained throughout the implementation phase. In regard to donors, we welcome their support and in particular we are much encouraged by the stance of the World Bank Group. Indeed, it is worth mentioning that some months ago, Mr. James Wolfensohn, the World Bank president circulated a discussion draft of a paper entitled "A Proposal for a Comprehensive Development Framework" to board, management and staff of the World Bank group. This document singled out corruption as a major development constraint in most developing countries including Africa. The countries of Southern Africa Development Countries (SADC) have already held round table meetings on anti-corruption measures which are needed. Also, the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) is on the forefront in co-ordinating a regional approach to home-grown anti-corruption initiatives in all countries of Africa. In June 1999, at a stage when Tanzania's National Anti- Corruption Strategy was well advanced, the World Bank Institute invited from Tanzania a team of 5 members (the "Country Team") drawn from government, media, business and civic associations to meet in Washington their counterpart Country Teams from BENIN, ETHIOPIA, GHANA, KENYA, MALAWI and UGANDA. The meeting was in the form of a course in Controlling Corruption through an Integrated Strategy. Thereafter, video-conferencing sessions took place in respective countries to cover Rule of Law, Financial Management & Procurement, Customs, and Civil Service. These deliberations brought out the need to apply diagnostic tools and procedures designed to control corruption. They also highlighted the importance of coalition building through forging alliances and partnerships by involving all the stakeholders so as to have an integrated approach on problem areas of corruption. These include Reform of Public Sector Institutions, competition through De-monopolisation, & Privatisation, Financial Discipline, Rule of Law, enhancing Public Awareness, assuring delivery of Public Services etc. Several quick-wins were also identified. The similarity of the state of corruption in these seven African countries was astounding. The course in Washington and the subsequent V-C sessions emphasised the importance of taking the concept of "political will" as one which transcends top leadership so as to include all the stakeholders through an empowerment process. These very same sentiments were echoed in a Workshop convened last month to internalise Tanzania's Anti-Corruption Strategy by giving ownership to civil society and the private sector. During this Workshop, coalition building, stakeholder involvement and use of diagnostic survey results were seen, through political will, as key elements which underpin an integrated approach to control corruption. The outcome of all these is a form of Strategy Matrices. These provide a summary of the main problem areas of the anti-corruption measures given in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy setting out actions already taken, as well as prioritisation of actions needed to be taken to yield expected results on short, medium and long terms. These matrices therefore need to be taken up in follow-on workshops and these are planned for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation tasks ahead. It is important to note that in every problem area, the beneficiaries are the corrupt whereas the innocent, the poor and the weak lose out. At a national level, corrupt elements both exploit poverty and maintains it. However, corruption is not confined to national or regional boundaries. It is global. In global terms, Grand Corruption is already a "big business" in which greedy business leaders and high-ranking government officials collude with increasing sophistication. Tanzania's National Strategy seeks to dismantle this "big business" on the premise that petty corruption will die a natural death. This is a daunting task requiring sustained application of strong curative and preventive anti-corruption measures in partnership with regional and international initiatives. It will also need substantial resource utilisation including the upliftment of the Prevention of Corrupt Bureau as a strong autonomous state organ. Backed as we are by top national leadership, with much of the background diagnostic survey work already completed and with a homegrown National Anti-Corruption Strategy also in place, we believe that Tanzania is well set to take on the scourge of corruption. I will now very briefly highlight the priority areas of the Tanzania's Strategy Matrices as follows:
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| TANZANIA'S NATIONAL INTEGRITY STRATEGY | ||||||||
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| Problem | Who benefits from the problem? | Who loses? | Actions already taken | Actions to take | Expected results and by when? (1) = short-term (2) = medium term (3) = long term | |||
| Government | Civil Society | Team | ||||||
| Rule of Law and the legal framework |
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| Financial Management |
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| Procurement |
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| Public Awareness & Participation |
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| Public Service Reform |
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| Whistle-blowers & Witness protection |
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| Media |
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