GOVERNMENT has directed all public institutions to give priority to state-owned firms in procurement of services as a strategy to boost efficiency in fiscal management and costcutting measures.
Finance and Planning Minister, Dr Philip
Mpango, announced here yesterday that retention of funds by state
institutions have been shelved and all revenues to be generated will now
be channelled to the Treasury coffers.
The directive covers ministries,
government departments and agencies as well as public institutions,
regional secretariats and local government authorities.
“All revenues should be channelled to
the Treasury coffers after which they will be disbursed according to
votes of respective institutions,” Dr Mpango stressed.
Presenting the guidelines for 2016/2017,
development plan and budget, Dr Mpango said public institutions ought
to give priority to state agencies when procuring insurance, courier,
transport and advertisement services.
“Accounting officers in ministries,
departments and agencies are as well directed to ensure that all board
meetings, training and seminars are held in facilities owned by
government institutions,” Dr Mpango directed.
According to Dr Mpango, the state-firms
should only pay debts which have been verified by internal auditors and
stipulated in financial statements. He said the Ministry of Finance and
Planning will conduct a census of all government employees to ensure
cases of ghost salaries in public offices.
“Each institution should strive to cut
costs through maintenance of vehicles and purchase of fuel and
restriction of parties and foreign trips,” he stressed.
The Minister went to direct the
accounting officers to ensure government institutions make use of
electronic payment systems to collect taxes, fees and all levies to
check cheating by some dishonest officials.
Procurement of vehicles should be done
in bulk through the Government Procurement Services Agency (GPSA) unlike
now where entities purchase the vehicles separately after securing
permits from the Prime Minister’s Office, he declared. “Purchase of
goods and services in bulk will enable the government to cut cost.
Accounting officers are also instructed
to put a ceiling on the use of electricity, telephone and water by
conducting regular inspections,” he stated.
Dr Mpango went to instruct accounting
officers in local government authorities to conduct mass valuation of
buildings to collect property taxes in the interim period pending an
envisaged valuation of the property by the government.
Revamping ailing statefirms to enable
them stand on their feet rather than subventions from the government are
among issues which the executives have been directed to deal with. The
firms includes the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), Tanzania
Railway Limited (TRL), Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), as well as
the Tanzania Mechanical and Electrical Services Agency (TEMESA).
Others are Weight and Measures Agency (WMA), Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), and the Cereal and Other Produce Board.
Among others, the development guidelines
for fiscal year 2016/2017 focus on conclusion of projects earmarked in
the Five-Year Development Plan 2011/2012-2015/2016 and phase two of the
National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, commonly referred
in its Kiswahili acronym as Mkukuta II.
It is as well dwells major industrial
drive and implementation of flagship projects by improving enabling
environment such as energy, land, agriculture and infrastructure to
support setting up of factories.
The flagship projects include Special
Economic Zones (SEZ) in Bagamoyo, Mtwara, and Kigoma as well as the
Tanzania Logistic Hub at Kurasini in Dar es Salaam and the new
agricultural town of Mkulazi in Morogoro and revamping of the central
railway line
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