Tanzanian president John Magufuli. PHOTO | FILE |
AFP
By HENRY MWANGONDE, hmwangonde@tz.nationmedia.com
Tanzanian President John Magufuli has sacked National
Identification Authority (NIDA) Director General Dickson Maimu pending a
probe over the questionable expenditure of Tsh179.6 billion ($82.3
million) in the national identity cards scheme.
Mr Magufuli has also suspended four other senior NIDA officials -
ICT director Joseph Makani, senior procurement officer Rahel Mapande,
director of legal affairs Sabrina Nyoni and transport officer George
Ntalima.
The Head of State directed that the country's Public Procurement
Regulatory Authority (PPRA), Prevention and Combating of Corruption
Bureau (PCCB) and Controller and Auditor General (CAG) investigate how
the money was spent.
Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue told a news conference at State
House that the president had received complaints that the pace of
issuance of national IDs was too slow and could not justify the
expenditure of such huge sums of money.
“The President has therefore directed relevant agencies to
conduct an investigation into all procurement processes carried out by
Nida to establish whether there was value for money and the number of
IDs that have been issued so far and determine whether there were
elements of corruption,” the chief secretary said.
He added that the sacked and suspended officials will be replaced as soon as possible.
The move is only the latest in a raft of austerity measures
introduced by president Magufuli since his inauguration and dismissed
several officials as a sign of his determination to fight corruption.
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