PRESIDENT
John Magufuli swears-in the new Shinyanga Regional Commissioner, Ms
Zainab Telack, at the State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Witnessing
are the Chief Secretary, Ambassador John Kijazi (second left) and
Deputy Clerk to the Cabinet, Mr Hassan Shebuge. (Photo by Robert Okanda)
PRESIDENT John Magufuli swears-in the new
Shinyanga Regional Commissioner, Ms Zainab Telack, at the State House in
Dar es Salaam yesterday. Witnessing are the Chief Secretary, Ambassador
John Kijazi (second left) and Deputy Clerk to the Cabinet, Mr Hassan
Shebuge. (Photo by Robert Okanda)
PRESIDENT John Magufuli has tasked the newly-appointed regional commissioners (RCs) and district commissioners (DCs) to ensure that all eligible taxpayers meet their obligations and pay due amounts to boost the country’s coffers.
He also asked the new leaders to
maintain security for all Tanzanians by virtue of their position as
heads of defence and security committees in the regions and districts.
Dr Magufuli issued the directives
yesterday soon after swearing-in three new regional commissioners at a
ceremony held at the State House in Dar es Salaam.
Early this week, President Magufuli made
a mini-reshuffle in the line-up of RCs in three regions and appointed
139 district commissioners (DCs), dropping several others from the
current list.
At the ceremony, President Magufuli
expressed his keenness on the supervision of revenue collection, saying
the government would not hesitate to take stern action against anybody
who would fail to meet requisite tax collection obligation. Issuing
directives to the new regional and district ‘governors’, the president
asked them to ensure that they maximise revenue collection in their
areas of jurisdiction, including sealing loopholes for tax evasion.
He revealed that the state machineries
were holding one businessperson in connection with tax evasion and
occasioning loss of trillions of shillings to the government through
Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) machines. Without mentioning names, Dr
Magufuli said that the businessperson, who had several companies, was
making transactions amounting to between 7m/- and 8m/- in a minute on a
daily basis.
To evade tax, various companies that
colluded with Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) officials and Business
Registration and Licensing Agency (BRELA) were remitting 5 per cent of
VAT to the businessperson.
At the end of the day, the suspected tax
evader was supposed to pay 18 per cent of VAT to TRA. But he used
dubious means to seek tax exemptions, thus denying the government of
both 5 and 18 per cent of VAT amounting to trillion of shillings.
“He/she is in safe hands (literally meaning he is in police custody); we
are currently looking on how we will recover our money,’’ he told his
audience.
He further outlined the criteria that he
used in picking the new RCs and DCs. According to Dr Magufuli, the new
DCs, who will be sworn-in by their respective RCs after arriving in
their respective regions, were appointed after a rigorous vetting
process and after considering their experience and history. He said
those whose names were dropped in the new line-up failed to meet the set
target in the previous administration.
He said 22 people from District and
Municipal Executive Directors were promoted to become DCs after they
discharged their duties well to record the highest level of performance.
In the new appointment, the president
said, unlike in the previous administrations, where a single person
could have two leadership positions, “when appointing the new DCs, I
decided that one should have one position in leadership to increase
efficiency.
’’ He gave an example of the decision to
revoke the appointment of Rombo District Commissioner, Ms Fatma Hassan
Toufiq, who she replaced with Ms Agness Hokororo. The revocation came
after realising that he had appointed a person who doubles as a Member
of Parliament (MP).
“In my government, it will be one
person, one job,’’ he insisted. The president told the appointed leaders
that the majority of Tanzanians faces a myriad of problems, challenging
them to solve them upon arrival in their respective duty stations.
“Do not be sources of those problems;
instead you should observe integrity, responsibility, rule of law and
avoid engaging yourself in corruption,’’ he told them adding: “I
understand that you have huge discretionary powers, including that of
detaining people for 48 hours.
But you should make sure that you avoid
abusing those powers.’’ On security, the president asked the new leaders
to ensure that the existing country’s peace was maintained.
“Whoever interferes with your duties, I
would allow you to use the powers vested on you because you are my
representatives,’’ he assured them. The swearing-in ceremony was also
attended by Vice-President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, Prime Minister Kassim
Majaliwa, Chief Secretary (CS), Ambassador John Kijazi and heads of
defence and security forces, among others.
The RCs who took oath of office are Dr
Binilith Mahenge, former Minister of State in the Vice-President’s
Office (Environment and Union Affairs) – Ruvuma; former Sengerema DC
Zainab Telack (Shinyanga) and former Siha DC Dr Charles Mlingwa (Mara).
In his remarks, Premier Majaliwa asked
the new RCs and DCs to observe discipline, responsibility and
accountability, saying their appointment by Dr Magufuli was prompted by
the trust he had on them.
“You have a big task ahead of you. You
should work hard to implement the president’s directives as enshrined in
the party’s manifesto as well as the promises he made to Tanzanians
when inaugurating the Parliament on November 20, last year.
On her part, Ms Samia asked the new DCs
to ensure that they put measures in place that would ensure that no
Tanzanian dies of hunger.
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