The Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) has revealed that corruption in the country has drastically declined over the past five years. REPOA conducted research in six sample districts and municipal councils on Tanzania Mainland which showed that people weren’t amused with the way the government was handling cases of corruption in high places – and are calling for tougher measures against the perpetrators.
The study was conducted among staff of the Ilala Municipal Council, Bagamoyo District Council, Iringa Municipal Council, Kilosa District Council, Moshi Municipal Council and Mwanza City Council.
According to REPOA, the police force was ranked the most corrupt in 2003 - followed by ordinary citizens, local government officials, health workers and business people -- but the situation reversed in 2006 – when the study showed ordinary citizens came first, followed closely by local government officials, police, health workers and village leaders.
Commenting on the report, the Minister of State in the President’s Office (Good Governance), Ms Sophia Simba said ordinary citizens have now become “slaves of corruption” because of growing desire to live better lives without requisite investment. Ms Simba attributed the trend towards lavish lifestyles to globalization, saying the world was becoming smaller by the day.
“People should live within their means … they should also build a culture of reporting incidents of corruption … we must fight with the seriousness and determination it deserves,” the minister said over the phone from Dodoma yesterday. She said the government was serious with war against corruption, citing formation of anti-corruption clubs in the community and schools among efforts the government was taking to stem the tide of graft across the country – all spearheaded by the Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau (PCCB).
The minister cited other initiatives as that of the Public Service Commission in which various service charters were prepared in the public service which had since helped improve the delivery of services. As a result, the World Bank’s governance indicators now place Tanzania among countries that experienced remarkable improvement in the control of corruption between 1998 and 2006.
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In addition, the country’s score on Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) also improved from 1.9 in 1996 to 3.2 in 2007,” the report says. Other findings also showed encouraging improvements in people’s perception of law and order whereby only 19 per cent of respondents expressed satisfaction with law and order, but this increased to 35 per cent in 2006, reflecting on-going government efforts to restructure the public service. “These measures were directed at reducing unethical behaviour by police officers and improving the security of ordinary citizens,” the report added.
Source:
Daily News
27th August 2008, 11:50 PM
Re: REPOA:Posts positive report on graft
27th August 2008, 11:50 PM
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