Tanzania loses $512 million due to bad managers

News 

Monday, May 12, 2014 

BY KENAN KALAGHO

EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

DODOMA, Tanzania - Due to poor management, the government has lost more than Tsh 843 billion (about $525 million) according to the 2013/2014 report of the Controller and Auditors General (CAG).
The report was tabled last week in the parliament and covers the year ending June 30 2013.
According to the report, the leading ways money has been lost include embezzlement due to missing of invoices, payment for ghost workers, poor accounting as well as poor procurement methods.
Speaking in Dodoma last week, soon after tabling his report ,  the CAG Ludovic Utouh said his team found mismanagement of funds with Tanzania Ports Authority, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, Ministry of Trade and Industries.
There is a case of  procurement of 11 vehicles worth millions of shillings at the trade ministry between August and September 2012, but these vehicles never reached the intended offices.
 “It is obvious that the vehicles ended up in corrupts hands and benefiting few individuals because they never,”  Utouh said. He said the cost of such vehicles still remains undisclosed because the whole issue is under investigation.
Utouh said $1.7 million was carelessly spent by TANESCO’s (the electricity utility) on the  Kurasin and Mbagala project meaning extra costs. Advisors’ payments rose to euro 2.5 million from the previous euro1.7 million incurring extra cost to TANESCO  which paid SEMCO Maritime AS and Rolls Royce Maritime AS $5.7million (Tsh9.5billion).
The report also noted that TPA incurred a $1.4million (tsh2.46billion) into procuring eight oil pumps from FMC Energy systems that were never put on use due to its unsuitability, while $200million (Tsh329.95billion) allocated to development projects on social services could not be spent.
The ghost workers according to the report swindled some $971,776 (Tsh1.6billion) in public funds on either dead, retirees and or resignations while various public institutions failed to abide by the procurement procedures costing the government huge sum of money. The CAG said his team discovered that there were projects whose financial document were missing that amounted to $2.7million (tsh4.5bilion) especially with the Agricultural Sector Development programs, Tanzania Social Auction Fund, Water Sector Development programme as well as Health Basket Fund.