Only with hefty penalty can we arrest grand corruption

BY EDITOR

4th December 2014

Editorial Cartoon

Anyone who has been keeping an eye on Tanzanian politics over the past few decades is very much aware of the severity of grand corruption scandals this developing nation has endured over the years.

However, even with evidence at hand, it is quite seldom that those implicated are held accountable for their actions. More often than not, the heftiest punishment these corrupt high-ranked government officials end up with is getting fired, and that’s all there is to it.

Case in point, they are never ordered to return the misappropriated public funds, which is like giving them a pat on the back for ‘regrettably’ sacking them.

This has always raised debates amongst devoted members of parliament who argue that if the only punishment these corrupt government officials who occasion the nation losses of billions of shillings get is resigning from office yet keep the stolen money, then how would they serve as an example to discourage others?
The only advantage in having them resign from office is keeping them from stealing any more money from the national coffers. However, even the resignation or dismissal from office isn’t always efficient especially when an implicated high-ranking government official also happens to hold another leadership position in the parliament.

Over the past few years, we have witnessed a lot of such cases whereby ministers are implicated in grand corruption cases, but their only punishment is to resign from their posts as cabinet members but they are allowed to keep their positions as members of parliament on account that ‘their people’ elected them into such positions.

The tendency of allowing MPs - cum ministers to maintain their positions in parliament even after being implicated in grand corruption cases raised heated debates during the Constituent Assembly with most legislators backing it, of course.

Well, supposed arguing otherwise would be contradicting the Constitution, we can still advocate for bankrupting any government official involved in misappropriations of public funds instead of merely letting them go.

About six years ago, President Jakaya Kikwete merely fired the former Governor of the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) over the External Payment Arrears (EPA) scandal whereby the central bank occasioned a loss of 133bn/- to the government through fraudulent payments to 22 companies in 2006/2005.

Five years ago, we witnessed a grand corruption case involving the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) former Director of Personnel and Administration who occasioned the government a loss of 221bn/- who was then found guilty of the charges and was only sentenced to a few years in jail.

As the government is currently in the midst of handling the Tegeta Escrow account saga, just a few years after the aforementioned scandals, it is safe to argue that we are yet witnessing another similar scandal due to the low level of severity of our punishments to the culprits. 

If the government doesn’t beef up the punishments, then it will reach a point when grand corruption in Tanzania will become more of a norm than a crime with severe consequences to the entire nation. To avoid reaching such heights, in handling those implicated in the Tegeta Escrow account scandal, the government should ensure hefty punishment including demanding the stolen money be returned.  

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN