Government coffers are empty

[VUVUZELA]

Serikali si ngepanga budget kwa hicho hicho ilichonacho kuliko kuwa ombaomba kila siku.
Matumizi mengine ni ya kujitakia na yanatia kinyaa.
Wabunge 100 wa viti vya kuteuliwa? Wa nini? Hao wabunge waliochaguliwa si wanatosha!
Magari ya kifahari, nyumba kwaajili ya watumishi wa serikali, safari kila kukicha zisizokuwa na manufaa etc

 

[Mombo Wetu]

Is it just me, or is this post hella creepy...i mean super scary!

Those arent my words i just copied and pasted, japo with thy heart one beliveth and with thy mouth confethes until salvation is realised... Hahahaaaaaaaa mtu anakimbia kivuli chake; pole weee usiogope kwani wewe ni gentile kama siyo hayakuhusu kama ndiyo basi habari ndo hiyo!

 

[Phillemon Mikael]

Kwenye barua yake Mkullo amesahau ..angesema TUNAOMBA PESA ILI TUWEEZE KUWALIPA DOWANS...labda ndicho anachomaanisha kwenye national grid challanges....
Mwaka huu wataula wa chuya ...wafadhili wamenuna......

 

[Mupirocin]

Na mkwere wetu anayefikiria kunyesha mvua kwenye mabwawa badala ya kufikiria njia mbadala. Malipo ya Richmond na badaye dowans 150mil/day tungenunua mitambo yetu sasa 2ngekuwa 2nazungumza mengine sasa kwaajili ubinafsi, rushwa, tamaa, ufisadi na upeo mdogo wa kufikiria ndo unaotufikisha hapa.

 

[Rev. Kishoka]

The Revolutioinary train has just departed Cairo on its way to Dar Es Salaam.

In Egypt, people took the People's Power approach and overthrow the government so that they can have better and quality life, they can have assurance of food, education, jobs, good health system and efficiency.

If they were in Tanzania, they could have been irked by the power outages, bad roads, inadequate water supply, poor educaztion system, unemployement and false promises from CCM and Politicians who preach Amani, Mshikamano, Utulivu and Uvumilivu, while they are getting fatter and fatter and their lives are as pleasant as butter.

We are spending in irrelevant issues and we should stone our leaders for being chronic beggars!

 

[TwaWeZA-2011]

Not good when a govt. of a country rich in resources has to resort to this kind of begging! People are getting smart and recently after witnessing the people's victory in Egypt, I don't think people will tolerate injustice, stealing, corruption, mismanagement of govt. funds anymore, anywhere.

 

[Kichuguu]

Donors,

Please hear me. Don't use your taxpayers money on stupid things like funding the recurrent expenditures of a country that has been independent for fifty years!!! The more you give them your finger, the more they demand your arm.

 

[Comrade Mpayukaji]

Pumbaf nchi ina utajiri wa kila namna bado tunaendekeza bakuli. Uongozi wa nchi hii umelaaniwa kutokana na ubinafsi wa kupindukia. Haya jamani Ari Zaidi ,n guvu zaidi hiyoooo! JK na CCM yako achieni nchi yetu.:horn:

 

[Gurudumu]

Donors,

Please hear me. Don't use your taxpayers money on stupid things like funding the recurrent expenditures of a country that has been independent for fifty years!!! The more you give them your finger, the more they demand your arm.

In support!! More aid = more poverty and injustice.
Mbona hawaishiwi risasi, maji washawasha na mabomu ya machozi?

 

[Gurudumu]

Pumbaf nchi ina utajiri wa kila namna bado tunaendekeza bakuli. Uongozi wa nchi hii umelaaniwa kutokana na ubinafsi wa kupindukia. Haya jamani Ari Zaidi ,n guvu zaidi hiyoooo! JK na CCM yako achieni nchi yetu.:horn:

Hiyo ndiyo ilikuwa sera kuu ya Rais wakati anaomba kura. Kwamba mkichagua ccm wafadhili wataongeza misaada, yeye anatalii duniani wafadhili wanapenda sura yake wanaongeza pesa. His main income strategy was about donation from western countries. Tulipompigia kura maana yake tulikubaliana na hiyo sera. Sasa anaanza kutekeleza ahadi yake hiyo kwa nini tunalalamika?

 

[kweleakwelea]

wasizitoe hizo hela hado katiba mpya ipite. ndio kutakuwa na nidhamu ya matumizi na kuacha kushabikia siasa!

 

[Mtu wa Mungu]

Govt seeks emergency support from donors Thursday,
10 February 2011 00:46

By The Citizen Reporters
Dar es Salaam. The government has appealed for additional funding from donors to meet an urgent shortfall in its 2010/11 Budget.

However, a letter sent to a number of donors and signed by Finance and Economic Affairs Permanent Secretary Ramadhan Khijjah does not specify the amount of money needed to plug the Budget gap.

Finance Minister Mustafa Mkulo last June tabled a Sh11.6 trillion Budget, of which more than Sh7.79 trillion was for recurrent expenditure and about Sh3.81 trillion for development projects.

Mr Khijjah says in the letter dated January 19 that in the course of implementing the Budget, unforeseen challenges have emerged that prompted the government to bank on emergency expenditure. The major challenges include electricity generation, where government has been forced to purchase more fuel to curtail power shortages on the national grid.

Most parts of the country go without electricity for five days a week, courtesy of a punitive rationing schedule blamed on low water levels at major hydroelectricity dams, especially Mtera and problems related to gas production in Songosongo.As a result, the government has had to purchase more fuel to run heavy furnace oil (FHO) turbines to supplement power on the national grid.

Mr Khijjah says food shortage is another challenge, adding that the government has had to incur extra costs to boost national food reserves in the wake of inadequate rainfall in many parts of the country.Briefing MPs in Dodoma on Monday, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said at least 36 districts in 13 regions were facing acute food shortages.

Mr Khijjah says in his letter that extra funds are also needed to finance the transfer of primary education from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to local government authorities.President Jakaya Kikwete announced the changes when he unveiled his Cabinet after last year’s General Election. He said local governments to a large extent administered primary education matters, adding that there was a need to transfer the docket to give it more focus.

Mr Khijjah says the budget financing gap became apparent during the Mid Year Budget Review that assessed performance and determined the course of action to be taken during the second half of the current financial year.

“Challenges have been indentified, especially with regard to shortfalls in revenue collection against a projection of close to 10 per cent and continued lack of rainfall, which has affected agricultural activities. All these impact negatively on the implementation of the budget, causing an unexpected funding gap, which needs financing to ensure that we stay on course,” he says.

The letter has been copied to a number of development partners, particularly those comprising the General Budget Support (GBS) group, including the World Bank, European Commission and the African Development Bank.It has also been copied to the development cooperation offices in the embassies of Canada, Norway and Sweden. Also on the list are the counsellor for economic affairs at the Finnish embassy, Irish ambassador and head of development cooperation at the German and Danish embassies.

Others are the Japanese ambassador and head of the DFID office in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Khijjah also sounds optimistic, noting that achievements have been recorded in the implementation of the Budget, including encouraging signs of economic stability that put the country on track towards attaining seven per cent growth. (Mhhhhh!)

He says despite the challenges, the government is taking measures to remedy the situation. On revenue collection, Tanzania Revenue Authority has been urged to look into ways of minimising the shortfall and reaching its targets.With the exception of last December, TRA has not met its targets since the beginning of 2009/10, exerting pressure on budget execution.

In 2009/10, total domestic revenue collections (excluding revenues generated by local government authorities) were Sh4.662 trillion - a nine per cent shortfall against a budget of Sh5.096 trillion.“Based on the Mid Year Review the government is reviewing some of its expenditure items, especially in recurrent budget to weed out those that will not have negative impact on the general performance. In mind are items on seminars/workshop, etc,” Mr Khijjah says.

The government’s request for extra funds comes almost a year after donors withheld some $220 million (Sh297 billion) in General Budget Support (GBS) for this financial year.The donors said then that their combined GBS in 2010/11 would be $534 million (about Sh721 billion), some $220 million (about Sh297 billion) less than in the current financial year, which ends in June.

Ila fedha za kumlipa Rostam (Dowans) no problem????????????????? Iko kazi hapa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Idimi]

Hawa jamaa vipi?? Si juzi juzi tu wamesema TRA inakusanya kuliko malengo na national reserve (akiba ya Taifa imeongezeka) to 3+ billion USD sasa hii game vipi tena. Au wanafikiri hizi data wakitupa kwa kiswahili wahisani hawaelewi??

Worse enough hawa jamaa wana pesa za kuwalipa Down immediately wakati hawajui wananchi kwenye hizo wilaya 13 watakula nini??? Wanataka wawalipe Downs wakati wananchi wanakufa huku wakisubiri hela za wahisani??

Ndugu, hayo maneno katika rangi nyekundu inawezekana ni kweli, kwamba makusanyo yamekua, lakini je matumizi ya hayo makusanyo tunayatumiaje? Shida iko hapo.

Serikali si ingepanga budget kwa hicho hicho ilichonacho kuliko kuwa ombaomba kila siku.
Matumizi mengine ni ya kujitakia na yanatia kinyaa.
Wabunge 100 wa viti vya kuteuliwa? Wa nini? Hao wabunge waliochaguliwa si wanatosha!
Magari ya kifahari, nyumba kwaajili ya watumishi wa serikali, safari kila kukicha zisizokuwa na manufaa etc

Mkuu, hao jamaa hawawezi kupanga matumizi kulingana na mapato. Hawana udhu huo. Na hapo ndipo shida ilipo. Bajeti vivuli za upinzani bungeni huwa zinapangwa kwa kuzingatia kile tulichonacho na tunachotegemea kupata kulingana na mapato ya ndani, lakini bajeti hizo vivuli huwa zinapigwa chini kila mwaka na watawala, kwamba ni za kufikirika.
More pains to come. Ila kimsingi ni kwamba wafadhili wametuchoka.

 

[TwaWeZA-2011]

I also think ppl being proactive in these matters helps by rising awareness at grassroots level. I have been looking at India recently at how together the local media and the public are combating corruptions, for India is a country entrenched in corruption. A few things I would like to share with you all is that the young ppl are using the internet for awareness as well. They have set up websites in towns where if a person pays a bribe at say the local pharmacy for getting his medication because the person at the pharmacy will not release his medication until he pays him some rupees, he puts up the whole story on this website and the name and address of the place where he paid the bribe. The local tv and newsmedia is just fed up with the tantamount corruption in the country and they are fighting aggressively and bringing down ministers. Corruption is that Evil that hurts everyone!! And there is a saying that the Fish stinks from the head up!!!
Writing a petition to the local Embassies of Donor countries saying the TZ public says no to AID, the public does not want AID might be a good start as someone suggested in this thread earlier.

 

[muhosni]

I also think ppl being proactive in these matters helps by rising awareness at grassroots level. I have been looking at India recently at how together the local media and the public are combating corruptions, for India is a country entrenched in corruption. A few things I would like to share with you all is that the young ppl are using the internet for awareness as well. They have set up websites in towns where if a person pays a bribe at say the local pharmacy for getting his medication because the person at the pharmacy will not release his medication until he pays him some rupees, he puts up the whole story on this website and the name and address of the place where he paid the bribe. The local tv and newsmedia is just fed up with the tantamount corruption in the country and they are fighting aggressively and bringing down ministers. Corruption is that Evil that hurts everyone!! And there is a saying that the Fish stinks from the head up!!!
Writing a petition to the local Embassies of Donor countries saying the TZ public says no to AID, the public does not want AID might be a good start as someone suggested in this thread earlier.

Unless people are willing to unmask themselves, JF cannot do this

 

[TwaWeZA-2011]

There is a good article on the failure of AID. The article is entitled "Uganda: Why the AID agencies have been in Karamoja for so long" by Ben Jones, published on the Poverty Matters Blog of the Guardian uK, January 31, 2011. He asks three questions:
1) Why have agencies been in Karamoja for so long?
2) How do they justify their presence?
3) In whose interests are they working?
What is more perplexing is that instead of trying to figure out some sort of a solution to the economic problems facing TZ, they are choosing the real short term route of AID dependency-this simply is tragic!

 

[mchillo]

Govt seeks emergency support from donors Thursday,
10 February 2011 00:46

By The Citizen Reporters
Dar es Salaam. The government has appealed for additional funding from donors to meet an urgent shortfall in its 2010/11 Budget.

However, a letter sent to a number of donors and signed by Finance and Economic Affairs Permanent Secretary Ramadhan Khijjah does not specify the amount of money needed to plug the Budget gap.

Finance Minister Mustafa Mkulo last June tabled a Sh11.6 trillion Budget, of which more than Sh7.79 trillion was for recurrent expenditure and about Sh3.81 trillion for development projects.

Mr Khijjah says in the letter dated January 19 that in the course of implementing the Budget, unforeseen challenges have emerged that prompted the government to bank on emergency expenditure. The major challenges include electricity generation, where government has been forced to purchase more fuel to curtail power shortages on the national grid.

Most parts of the country go without electricity for five days a week, courtesy of a punitive rationing schedule blamed on low water levels at major hydroelectricity dams, especially Mtera and problems related to gas production in Songosongo.As a result, the government has had to purchase more fuel to run heavy furnace oil (FHO) turbines to supplement power on the national grid.

Mr Khijjah says food shortage is another challenge, adding that the government has had to incur extra costs to boost national food reserves in the wake of inadequate rainfall in many parts of the country.Briefing MPs in Dodoma on Monday, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda said at least 36 districts in 13 regions were facing acute food shortages.

Mr Khijjah says in his letter that extra funds are also needed to finance the transfer of primary education from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to local government authorities.President Jakaya Kikwete announced the changes when he unveiled his Cabinet after last year’s General Election. He said local governments to a large extent administered primary education matters, adding that there was a need to transfer the docket to give it more focus.

Mr Khijjah says the budget financing gap became apparent during the Mid Year Budget Review that assessed performance and determined the course of action to be taken during the second half of the current financial year.

“Challenges have been indentified, especially with regard to shortfalls in revenue collection against a projection of close to 10 per cent and continued lack of rainfall, which has affected agricultural activities. All these impact negatively on the implementation of the budget, causing an unexpected funding gap, which needs financing to ensure that we stay on course,” he says.

The letter has been copied to a number of development partners, particularly those comprising the General Budget Support (GBS) group, including the World Bank, European Commission and the African Development Bank.It has also been copied to the development cooperation offices in the embassies of Canada, Norway and Sweden. Also on the list are the counsellor for economic affairs at the Finnish embassy, Irish ambassador and head of development cooperation at the German and Danish embassies.

Others are the Japanese ambassador and head of the DFID office in Dar es Salaam.
Mr Khijjah also sounds optimistic, noting that achievements have been recorded in the implementation of the Budget, including encouraging signs of economic stability that put the country on track towards attaining seven per cent growth. (Mhhhhh!)

He says despite the challenges, the government is taking measures to remedy the situation. On revenue collection, Tanzania Revenue Authority has been urged to look into ways of minimising the shortfall and reaching its targets.With the exception of last December, TRA has not met its targets since the beginning of 2009/10, exerting pressure on budget execution.

In 2009/10, total domestic revenue collections (excluding revenues generated by local government authorities) were Sh4.662 trillion - a nine per cent shortfall against a budget of Sh5.096 trillion.“Based on the Mid Year Review the government is reviewing some of its expenditure items, especially in recurrent budget to weed out those that will not have negative impact on the general performance. In mind are items on seminars/workshop, etc,” Mr Khijjah says.

The government’s request for extra funds comes almost a year after donors withheld some $220 million (Sh297 billion) in General Budget Support (GBS) for this financial year.The donors said then that their combined GBS in 2010/11 would be $534 million (about Sh721 billion), some $220 million (about Sh297 billion) less than in the current financial year, which ends in June.

Contradiction! Majuzi tu wamekuwa wakitamba ati hali ya uchumi wetu ni bora kuliko nchi zote za Afrika Mashariki na kwamba nchi ina akiba nono. Kumbe hali halisi ndiyo hiyo! Ndiyo maana Bwana Mkubwa wa pale magogoni alihamanika hadi kuwaomba "Samahani" mabalozi kwa uhaini walioufanya Arusha wa kutumia silaha kunyamazisha sauti za watu. Nadhani alichanganyikiwa akihofia kuumbuka kama wangekata line ya misaada. Alisahau hata kuwapa pole wahanga wa uhalifu ule uliofanyika Arusha. Labda atafanya hivyo uchaguzi mwingine utakapofika.

 

[Gurudumu]

Bulk of mining taxes comes from workers Send to a friend
Tuesday, 15 February 2011 07:16
digg

By Florence Mugarula
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Despite claims of a boom in Tanzania's mining industry, the bulk of taxes paid to the government comprises deductions from the workers' wages and not levies on extracted minerals, it has been revealed.At least 54.5 per cent of the taxes collected from mining, gas and oil companies in the country is being paid by ordinary workers in form of various taxes, according to a new report released here yesterday by the Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TEITI).

According to the report, the government depends more on labour tax than production by mining companies to boost revenue from the sector.

Commenting on the report, a development analyst criticised the government for concentrating on attracting investment in mining instead of planning the sector's development.

"We have established that minerals, gas and oil are not contributing as required to the national income," said Mr Bubelwa Kaiza, executive director of Concern for Development Initiatives in Africa (ForDIA.

He told a mining stakeholders' meeting here yesterday that most of the income attributed to the sector was collected as pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) taxation on wages.

Researches have established that most of foreign investors in the sector were not contributing effectively to the government revenue, Mr Kaiza asserted.

According to the TEITI report, apart from labour taxes which account for over 50 per cent of receipts from the mining sector, stamp duty contributes a mere 0.3 per cent, mining lease 0.9 per cent and import duty adds 34 per cent .
"There are many investment attractions in the mining sector than the profit which is expected to be generated from projects. We are paying more than we get," said Mr Kaiza.

For nearly 50 years of national independence there has been no strong presence of local investors in the exploration and exploitation of minerals, gas and oil deposits in the country.

"Investors are always coming from abroad because Tanzanians have neither the technology nor the required capital to run such enterprises which are capital intensive," Mr Kaiza observed.

In his opinion, Tanzania's failure to capitalize on its abundant mineral wealth was due to lack of strong mining policies and information on the part of the government while the population generally was not enlightened about mining issues.
In 2009 Tanzania became EITI candidate country, a preliminary stage towards membership.

Mr Kaiza hailed the report as a very important tool for the development of the mining sector saying "it provides a direction on where the sector is heading to."

The report notes as an outstanding issue the fact that mining companies recorded huge amounts of money paid to the government while the treasury had no evidence to verify receipt of the payments.

"The report shows that no single cent has been paid to the treasury by these mining companies," said Mr Kaiza, suggesting that the government should order investors to deposit their cash in local banks in order to boost the country's economic development.

While the government claimed it received a paltry amount of money, he said it has been established that the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and the ministry of Energy and Minerals have been collecting taxes from mining, gas and oil companies.

In July 2010 the MSG called on all major mining, oil and gas companies to submit reports on all payments that they made to the Government and its agencies. The companies obliged accordingly within a two-week deadline.
It was revealed last week that over Sh24 billion which mining companies claim to have paid in taxes could not be traced on government books.

An audit conducted by Hart Nurse Ltd confirmed that the Government acknowledged receipt of less amount of money than what the companies claimed they had actually paid.

Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) of the Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TEITI) contracted Hart Nurse Ltd to examine the payments made by the major mining and gas operating companies to the government for the period of July 2008 -June 2009.

Chaired by retired Judge Mark Bomani, TEITI operates as a local affiliate of global Extraction Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI).
Hart group has established that the extractive companies paid about Sh89 billion to the government, which, in turn, reported to have received Sh64 billion only.

At the launch of the report, Mr Bomani said that copies of the document would be handed to relevant authorities so that the discrepancy could be investigated and ironed out.

In addition, Mr Bomani said the report would be submitted to the Controller and Auditor General's office for further evaluation to establish the causes of such differences in revenues.

But, he said that the reconciler was also making efforts to find out the cause of discrepancy.
"After further assessment we will establish whether there were cases of improper accounting, conversion from US dollars into shillings or misuse of the money collected," he added.