BY CORRESPONDENT
16th January 2013
This was disclosed yesterday by the Commissioner General of the Ethics Secretariat; Judge Salome Kaganda in her office in Dar es Salaam, saying that those who have defaulted will be required to provide explanations.
Commissioner Kaganda said chapter 398 of the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act requires the leaders to declare their wealth and liabilities to the Secretariat Commissioner within 30 days of being elected or appointed to office whereby they would keep doing so annually while in office and at the time of their retirement.
She said last year 9,194 public leaders were provided with wealth declaration forms in October, but up to December 31, last year, only 6,997 of them, equivalent to 76 percent submitted the forms.
“Out of the number of leaders who submitted the wealth declaration forms, 3,259 were public servants and 3,738 political leaders, she said, adding that a total of 2,177 equivalent to 24 percent did not submit the forms.
Kaganda clarified that any declaration forms submitted from now on must have explanations on the failure to observe the law. Those who will not provide the reasons for not observing the deadline will be violating the law.
She added that one of the actions that could be taken against the leaders who have defaulted is to summon them before the Tanzania Ethics Tribunal and if proven that they had no genuine reasons for not returning the declaration forms on time, further actions will be taken against them.
In 2011 most of the top government executives and leaders of political parties declared their wealth and liabilities before the Public Leaders Ethics Secretariat.
The official said compliance among top and senior government executive and leaders of political parties had been around 99 per cent, though it was lower for those in junior cadres such as primary court magistrates and ward councilors.
He said compliance to the code of ethics was important in monitoring the conduct of public leaders, in matters such as abuse of power, accountability and transparency. “Compared to previous years, the number of both public and political leaders who have filled in and returned the wealth declaration forms has increased substantially,” he said.
He said 24 leaders out of 41 who appeared before the ethics council were found guilty of neglecting the law whereby 18 were warned and six reprimanded.
According to the Code of Ethics, those who fail to disclose their property face a number of disciplinary measures including given warnings, demotion or forced to resign from office.
In February last year, the Ethics Secretariat announced a countrywide verification of wealth declared by public leaders as a legal requirement.
The Commissioner said that the move was meant to improve transparency by letting the public know their leaders’ wealth.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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