THE government, through the Ethics Secretariat that administers ethical conduct of public leaders, plans to table a Bill in parliament that seeks to separate Business and Public Leadership, the National Assembly Speaker, Mr Job Ndugai, has said.
Mr Ndugai also pointed out that the
strain on the public to contribute to various events, including paying
school fees, contributing to funerals and other social events in
constituencies, place MPs in a position to easily fall into the trap of
corruption.
Mr Ndugai said before the Bill is
tabled, MPs will be sensitised on its importance in addition to the need
to separate business and public leadership, which is meant to ensure
the integrity of public leaders.
He urged all MPs, “including those who
usually do not like reading documents presented in parliament to make
sure they read and understand the Bill so that they do not regret when
it receives parliament endorsement’’.
He added: “In developed countries, when
one is appointed to take up public office, they hand over the running of
their business to someone else and after the period of leadership is
over they go back to managing their business.
“In our case you hand over your business
to someone else after five or ten years, I don’t know if you will find
it still running,” he noted, adding that the Bill has very good
intentions that will ensure integrity in public leadership.
Mr Ndugai was speaking during a one day
seminar here on the role of Parliamentary Network against Corruption
(APNAC) Tanzania chapter in fighting corruption and promoting good
governance and strengthening parliamentary oversight in battling
corruption.
The National Assembly speaker said some
MPs are forced to fall into corruption following the many contributions
that they were forced to make in addressing challenges facing members of
their constituencies, including paying school fees, contributing to
construction of classrooms, desks and funerals, which sometimes leaves
an MP broke.
“Such a situation would force a public
leader to find other means to get money, including using corrupt
ways.... however as MPs and public leaders, you are responsible to be at
the forefront in helping to combat corruption,” he pointed out.
In assisting the government in the fight
against corruption, Mr Ndugai told the MPs to ensure the laws that they
endorse do not provide loopholes for corruption as well as refraining
from corruption themselves to show a good example to the public.
He called on the MPs to ensure
institutions that fight corruption are allocated enough funds to help in
fighting corruption. The Speaker said the 5th government was keen on
combating corruption in the country and will not spare anyone, who will
be implicated regardless of their public standing: “Anyone who will be
implicated in any corruption deals will be taken to task, no one will be
spared.”
Mr Ndugai said his office acknowledged
that the work done by the members of parliament is more important
compared to monetary compensation, noting that his office is finding
ways to improve the current situation.
He noted that according to the Global
Organisations of Parliamentarians against Corruption (GOPAC) report, a
total of 50 billion US dollars is siphoned from Africa every year in
illicit financial outflows. “This is a lot of money leaving the
continent each year, which would have gone into uplifting the lives of
the majority who are poor,” he said.
The Minister of State in the President’s
Office (Public Service Management and Good Governance), Ms Angela
Kairuki, called on the MPs to be an example by leading the fight against
corruption.
“As MPs, we need to be a good example to
the public, we are supposed to be above any accusations of
corruption.... we should be at the forefront leading by example in the
fight against corruption,” she noted.
She acknowledged that the laws on
corruption were not providing stern legal measures against culprits of
corruption, noting that a Bill to amend the law will soon be tabled in
parliament, asking the MPs to support the amendments. When contributing
to the discussion, Mr Ally Keissy (Nkasi-CCM) said corruption would not
be combated in the country because judicial institutions mainly the
courts are still letting culprits of grand corruption work free, calling
on PCCB to conduct investigations into some of the country’s courts.
Right after the seminar, some MPs noted
that they would not let the Bill that wants to separate Business and
Public Leadership go through because to some of them, business was the
major means of livelihood.
“Many of us here are business people;
that is our livelihood.... this is difficult to comprehend. I do not
think this Bill will go through if what my colleagues’ position is
anything to go by,” said one of the MPs who declined to be named.
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