The 9th International Anti-Corruption Conference
The Papers
TANZANIA
TANZANIA'S NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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:
- Rule of Law: to create conditions which can restore confidence
in the judiciary services and law enforcement agencies.
- Financial Discipline: reduce siphoning of public funds and increase revenue
collection to enable financing social services.
- Procurement: strict adherence to and transparent administration of tendering
procedures.
- Public Awareness: to create awareness of how corruption harms the
economy and ultimately transforms the fabric of society.
- Public Service: to recognise that public officers are not "masters" but
"servants" accountable for their actions (who therefore deserve a fair
remuneration package).
- Media: to report corrupt elements without
fear or favour and to publicise the harm they do to the innocent, the
poor and the weak in Tanzania.
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