Israel has commended Tanzania's government for its current efforts to fight corruption and expressed commitment to extend any help needed to combat the vice.
"We welcome efforts of President John Magufuli on corruption fight, and we are willing to help where contacted on this. This is a great movement and a great step ahead for Tanzanians, and I know this may be unpleasant to some people, but it is important for the future of the country," Israel Deputy Ambassador Eyal David said in Dar es Salaam, recently.
For the first time in history, Tanzania opened an embassy in the Middle Eastern country in May, 2018, whose decision was solidified by the country's commitment to further cement bilateral relations.
In an exclusive interview with the "Daily News" the envoy pointed out that it was important and possible to have a country free of corruption to facilitate development.
"It's good to have law enforcement and ensure that people understand that corruption is not the game. This is a positive thing on the part of President Magufuli," he said.
Mr. David further said that Tanzania has been among some few chosen African countries that Israel has been determined to foster strong bilateral relations with.
However, bilateral ties between Israel and Tanzania were severed following the 1973 Yom Kippur War and later reestablished in 1995, since then Israel has been conducting its relations with Tanzania via Nairobi in Kenya.
Fighting corruption has been a big agenda of the fifth phase government since it ascended to power four years ago. During the period, it witnessed several leaders and government officials taken to task over corruption allegations.
Latest move was when the President smelled a rat in contract worth over 1tri/- for procuring fire-fighting and rescue equipment from a Romania company without authorisation of the Ministry of Finance and Planning and without Parliament's blessings.
Upon this, Dr. Magufuli sacked Minister for Home Affairs Kangi Lugola and Commissioner-General of the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force, Mr. Thobias Andengenye.
The Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau (PCCB) now continues to grill the former Home Affairs Minister and other officials over the alleged fraudulent contract.
One of the remarkable endeavours of the President in fighting corruption was establishing a special court to handle graft related cases in the country. In the inauguration, the Economic, Corruption and Organised Crime High Court's Division was midwifed two years ago and started listening to such cases, where already dozens of government officials and other senior citizens have been charged.
Tanzania scored 37 points out of 100 on the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International.
The report shows an upward trend in scored points from 2015 when the country scored 30 points.