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DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania (Xinhua) --
Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Monday
ordered the east African nation’s anti-graft watchdog to
investigate grand deals suspected to have made through
corruption and fraud.
A statement from the
Directorate of Presidential Communications at State House in the
commercial capital Dar es Salaam said the president made the
order when he made an impromptu visit to the headquarters of the
Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB).
“PCCB should not
hesitate to take relevant measures when it has enough evidence
against people with corruption charges,” said President Magufuli.
Magufuli made the
order hardly a week after he had expressed concerns over the
slow pace of investigations and conviction of corruption cases.
On Thursday last
week, Magufuli urged the PCCB to make sure that investigations,
prosecution and conviction of corruption cases were hastened in
order to eliminate this social cancer.
The president
expressed his aversion shortly after he had sworn in Brigadier
General Julius Mbungo as Deputy Director General of the PCCB.
On Monday, Magufuli
said PCCB should focus its investigations on various issues with
corruption implications, including the revelation of 19,500
ghost workers, 56,000 phantom families that were getting
financial assistance from the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF),
5,850 phantom students who secured education loans and the
purchase of 11 locomotive engines without a contract.
“All these were done
through corrupt means. We want PCCB to investigate them and
prosecute the offenders,” said Magufuli.
On Thursday,
President Magufuli said:”If we succeed fighting corruption by 80
per cent this country will have made huge progress. And
investors are attracted to countries that have managed to
control corruption,” he said.
He added: “Most of
the problems facing Tanzania have been caused by corruption. We
have ghost workers. We have drugs. We have bad contracts, and we
have fake academic certificates. All these have been caused by
corruption.”
Magufuili appealed
to leaders in the east African nation to unite towards the fight
against corruption.
“As your leader, I
have decided to fight corruption with full force. I need your
full support. All people convicted with corruption should be
jailed without mercy,” he said.
Last year, Tanzania
established a specialized court on economic, corruption and
organized crime after President Magufuli has assented into law a
Bill approved by Parliament to establish it.
Magufuli had
promised to establish the anti-corruption court during
presidential campaigns for the October 2015 general election,
saying fighting corruption was one of his priorities.
The PCCB Director
General, Valentino Mlowola, said the decision by the government
to establish the court showed its political will in fighting
corruption.
Statistics showed
that there were 3,911 cases involving corruption allegations
during the 2015/16 year. Investigations on 324 of them had
already been completed. |
