Allowance culture drains tax payers` cash - Mbatia
By Rodgers Luhwago
27th December 2009
NCCR- Mageuzi National Chairman James Mbatia
NCCR- Mageuzi National Chairman James Mbatia has said unless the government freezes the culture of allowances, Tanzanians should never expect their taxes to bring tangible results in their lives.
Speaking to The Guardian on Sunday in an exclusive interview recently, Mbatia said ‘allowance mania' was a devilish culture that needs to be castigated because it tends to negatively affect the performance of civil servants and service delivery.
According to Mbatia, government officials nowadays spend much time preparing workshops and seminars and some creating unnecessary trips for the objectives of earning allowances that sometimes exceed their monthly salaries.
"Just take a simple example; a government official who earns Sh 500,000 per month as salary may end up getting allowances amounting to Sh 800,000 if he travels to any other city or municipality and stays there for only ten days," he said.
He said it has reached a point whereby government officials decide to choose a venue for the seminar outside their region unnecessarily for the objectives of legalizing the payment of per diem.
He said the situation is more exploitative when such officials travel outside the country since, depending on ranks, high ranking government officials earn up to about Sh 550,000 per day as per diem.
Pegging his remarks into the recent media report that Tanzania had sent a delegation of 100 people to the Copenhagen meeting on Climate Change, Mbatia said the government lost much money that would have otherwise been spent in other important areas.
"In my opinion it is high time the government reviewed the allowance culture because it does not help this nation in anyway," he said. Illustrating how government officials squander public funds in trips abroad, he said a high ranking government official traveling to Europe in Business Class may pay a return fare of $ 6500 ( about Sh 7,000,000) while he can spend only $ 1600 in Economy Class.
A recent research conducted by two Civil Society Organizations of Policy Forum and Twaweza showed that assistant directors, principal officers, directors and principal secretaries and above earn Sh 80,000 when they travel to other cities and municipal councils in the country while senior and middle ranking officers earn Sh 65,000. Executive secretaries downwards pocket Sh 45,000.
But when traveling outside the country, the assistant directors, principal officers, directors, principal secretaries and above earn $ 420 which is about Sh 546,000 while senior and middle ranking officers pocket $363 (about Sh 474,500) executive secretaries to below earn $310, equivalent to Sh 403,000.
In the same research, it is documented that in the 2008/2009 financial year, the government allocated Sh 506 billion for allowances only – equivalent to the annual maximum basic salary for 109,000 teachers.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
By Rodgers Luhwago
27th December 2009
NCCR- Mageuzi National Chairman James Mbatia
NCCR- Mageuzi National Chairman James Mbatia has said unless the government freezes the culture of allowances, Tanzanians should never expect their taxes to bring tangible results in their lives.
Speaking to The Guardian on Sunday in an exclusive interview recently, Mbatia said ‘allowance mania' was a devilish culture that needs to be castigated because it tends to negatively affect the performance of civil servants and service delivery.
According to Mbatia, government officials nowadays spend much time preparing workshops and seminars and some creating unnecessary trips for the objectives of earning allowances that sometimes exceed their monthly salaries.
"Just take a simple example; a government official who earns Sh 500,000 per month as salary may end up getting allowances amounting to Sh 800,000 if he travels to any other city or municipality and stays there for only ten days," he said.
He said it has reached a point whereby government officials decide to choose a venue for the seminar outside their region unnecessarily for the objectives of legalizing the payment of per diem.
He said the situation is more exploitative when such officials travel outside the country since, depending on ranks, high ranking government officials earn up to about Sh 550,000 per day as per diem.
Pegging his remarks into the recent media report that Tanzania had sent a delegation of 100 people to the Copenhagen meeting on Climate Change, Mbatia said the government lost much money that would have otherwise been spent in other important areas.
"In my opinion it is high time the government reviewed the allowance culture because it does not help this nation in anyway," he said. Illustrating how government officials squander public funds in trips abroad, he said a high ranking government official traveling to Europe in Business Class may pay a return fare of $ 6500 ( about Sh 7,000,000) while he can spend only $ 1600 in Economy Class.
A recent research conducted by two Civil Society Organizations of Policy Forum and Twaweza showed that assistant directors, principal officers, directors and principal secretaries and above earn Sh 80,000 when they travel to other cities and municipal councils in the country while senior and middle ranking officers earn Sh 65,000. Executive secretaries downwards pocket Sh 45,000.
But when traveling outside the country, the assistant directors, principal officers, directors, principal secretaries and above earn $ 420 which is about Sh 546,000 while senior and middle ranking officers pocket $363 (about Sh 474,500) executive secretaries to below earn $310, equivalent to Sh 403,000.
In the same research, it is documented that in the 2008/2009 financial year, the government allocated Sh 506 billion for allowances only – equivalent to the annual maximum basic salary for 109,000 teachers.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
