Tanzania has continued registering great strides in transparency and accountability, it has been revealed. The East African nation has also posted major achievements in advancing good governance by putting developmental projects in public domain.
Delivering remarks on Finance and Planning minister, Mwigulu Nchemba's behalf, Arusha Regional Commissioner John Mongella told participants of the International Transparency and Accountability Conference (ITAC) 2021 that the country's level in the two virtues couldn't be overemphasized, buyed by the government's quest of cracking the whip on corrupt officials and embezzlers of public funds.
"The government allows those affected by administrative decisions to know about the resulting facts and figures like budgets," explained the Regional Commissioner. It was worth noting, according to Mr. Mongella, that government officials acted openly, with citizens' knowledge of the decisions the officials were making. He added that the availability of information on government policies and actions was a clear sense of organisational responsibility, and an assurance that governments were efficiently administered.
His assertion comes nine months after Tanzania climbed seven places to secure the 94th position in the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which was released early this year. The country amassed 38 points, out of a possible 100, making it the second least corrupt country in the region, having posted a significant improvement in the findings which ranks 180 countries on a scale of 0 to a 100.
Former Controller and Auditor General, Ludovick Utouh on his part said internal auditors were a prerequisite of good governance and accountability in the country, hence the need of executing their duties far from any sort of interference. 'They can help the government of the day in making appropriate decisions and assist in risk management only when they work independently," observed Mr. Utouh, who also heads WAJIBU-Institute of Public Accountability.
The former CAG also challenged the public sector to promote transparency in their day to day activities and embrace the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) arrangement. The maiden two-day event featured more than 250 participants under the theme Transformation to a Culture of Total Transparency and Accountability from both the public and private sectors, institutions of higher learning, NGOs, CSOs, media, professional associations and the diplomatic community to discuss and share experiences on how harnessed public resources can be put to better use in bringing meaningful development to the the country's citizens.