Ofisi ya Mkaguzi Mkuu haikuwa na uwezo kukagua ubadhirifu EPA’

[Lunyungu]

MKAGUZI na Mdhibiti Mkuu wa Hesabu za Serikali (CAG), Ludovick Utouh, amekiri kuwa ofisi yake haikuwa na uwezo wa kukagua tuhuma za ubadhirifu ndani ya Benki Kuu ya Tanzania (BoT) kupitia Akaunti ya Madeni ya Nje (EPA), kutokana na kutokuwa na ujuzi na vifaa vya kufanya hivyo.

Alisema kutokana na hali hiyo, kuundwa na kusainiwa kwa mkataba wa makubaliano ya utekelezwaji wa awamu ya pili ya Mpango wa Maendeleo wa Ofisi ya Ukaguzi wa Hesabu za Serikali (NAODP), kutasaidia kuziba pengo hilo.

“Suala la EPA nakiri kuwa ofisi yangu haikuwa na uwezo wa kulishughulikia, ndiyo maana kupitia mamlaka yangu kwa mujibu wa Sheria ya Fedha za Umma, niliagiza mtaalamu kutoka nje, lakini sasa mpango huu wa awamu ya pili kupitia ukaguzi wa kisasa, utasaidia kuziba pengo hilo,” alisema.

Akizungumza jana wakati wa uzinduzi na utiaji saini wa mkataba huo utakaogharimu kiasi cha Sh bilioni 7.7, alisema utekelezwaji wa mkataba huo utazingatia malengo matano likiwamo moja jipya la udhibiti wa ubadhirifu, ufisadi na rushwa kupitia ukaguzi wa kisasa zaidi.

Ukaguzi huo utatumia zaidi nyaraka zinazotumia umeme pamoja na vifaa vya Teknolojia ya Mawasiliano (IT), ukiwa na lengo la kutambua udhaifu katika maeneo mbalimbali ya akaunti za serikali, alisema.

Alisema pamoja na hayo kupitia mpango huo, pia Ofisi ya Taifa ya Ukaguzi wa Hesabu za Serikali (NAOT) itafuatilia uundwaji wa Sheria ya Ukaguzi ambayo itaiwezesha ofisi hiyo kuwa na ofisi yake itakayokuwa huru badala ya sasa ambapo ofisi hiyo iko chini ya Wizara ya Fedha na Uchumi.

Alisema iwapo sheria hiyo itapitishwa na Bunge, Ofisi ya Ukaguzi itatengeneza kanuni na taratibu zake na hivyo kuimarisha zaidi utendaji wake. Naye Naibu Waziri wa Fedha na Uchumi Jeremia Sumari, akizindua mpango huo utakaotekelezwa kwa miaka mitatu na nusu, kwa niaba ya Waziri Mustafa Mkulo, aliishukuru Serikali ya Sweden kwa mchango wake ikiwa ni pamoja na kufadhili mpango huo ambao utaimarisha NAOT.

Alisema kupitia awamu ya kwanza ya mpango huo wa NAODP ambayo uligharimu Sh bilioni 11.3, ofisi hiyo ya mkaguzi imekuwa ikifanya vizuri hasa katika ripoti zake za ukaguzi za mwaka ambazo zimekuwa zikitolewa katika muda mwafaka zikiwa katika kiwango cha hali ya juu.

Kupitia awamu ya pili, serikali inatarajia Ofisi ya Mkaguzi Mkuu, itafanikisha malengo yaliyowekwa ambayo ni matumizi sahihi ya malighafi za umma, maendeleo mazuri ya usimamizi wa fedha, mawasiliano mazuri juu ya matumizi ya serikali na utolewaji wa ripoti na uhuru wa kupitia matumizi hayo, alisema.

Sumari alisema serikali imejidhatiti katika kuhakikisha kuwa uhuru wa NAOT unapewa nguvu kupitia sehemu mbili ambazo ni kuipatia haki ya amri na kufanya kazi kwa uhuru, na kwa sasa Serikali inafanyia kazi muswada wa Sheria ya Ukaguzi ambao utapelekea kuundwa kwa Sheria ya Ukaguzi.

Naye Balozi wa Sweden nchini, Staffan Harrstrom, alisema ofisi hiyo ya ukaguzi ni ya muhimu kwa wadau wa maendeleo kwa kuwa wanataka kuona fedha za kodi zao zikitumika vizuri hasa katika kupambana na umasikini na si vinginevyo.

Kwa upande wake, Meneja wa Mpango huo wa awamu ya pili kutoka Ofisi ya Ukaguzi ya Sweden, Carl Ake Gerde’n kwa jina la utani Baba Zulu, aliyataja malengo ya mradi huo kuwa ni NAOT kuwa na Sheria yake, kuboresha matumizi ya kompyuta, Ukaguzi wa Ufanisi, kujenga ofisi mpya ambayo ni huru na ukaguzi wa kisasa utakoweza kubaini mafisadi na wabadhirifu.

Mpango huo umefadhiliwa na Ofisi ya Ukaguzi wa Hesabu za Serikali, Sweden (SNAO) Sh bilioni 3.9, Shirika la Kimataifa la Maendeleo (SIDA) Sh bilioni 2.7 na Serikali ya Tanzania Sh bilioni 1.1.



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[Lunyungu]

THE National Audit Office of Tanzania (NAOT) with support of the Swedish National Audit Offices will establish a forensic Audit unit, which will effectively detect irregularities in public sector including fraud, embezzlement, corruption and scam.

The project Manager for NAOT, Mr Carl Gerden, said that the unit will go deep in investigating projects that the government had allocated funds for to establish whether they had value for money spent on them.

However, the Ambassador of Sweden to Tanzania, Mr Staffan Herrstrom, said under the second phase project there was a momentum of gradually going a step further to improve the systems of accountability in the country.

“I also realised how crucial this process of strengthening NAOT is right now when the country is struggling to fight mismanagement of funds, unethical practices and pure corruption,” he added.

Speaking on the same occasion, the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr Jeremia Sumari, thanked the government of Sweden and its people for their consideration to fund the second phase of the project.

However, he read a speech by Minister Mustafa Mkulo, who was attending to other official duties at the time. Mr Sumari said the participation of the resident consultants from Sweden was vital to the success of the projects both in the first and second phases.

Meanwhile, Sweden and Tanzania has signed an agreement for the two countries to contribute to the second phase of the National Audit Office Development Project (NAODP). According to the agreement, both countries will contribute to 7.6bn/- budget.

The agreement was signed at a ceremony to launch the project today, by the country’s Controller and Auditor General (CAG), Ludovick Utouh, and his Swedish counterpart, Ms Karin Lindell.

Sweden will also continue to provide technical assistance under the project. Ms Lindell said she was optimistic that NAOT will achieve a good public audit Act conforming to international standards A proposal for a separate Public Audit Act has been submitted to the Cabinet for consideration.

On his part, Mr Utouh said that it was crucial for his organisation to achieve operational autonomy of the national audit office. He added by saying that the autonomy would enable the NAOT to continue to contribute to government's anti-corruption strategy.

The first phase cost 11.3bn/- and started in 2004-2007 and had shown encouraging results which have been used to convince development partners to embark on the second phase. NAODP is a cooperation between the government of Tanzania through the NAOT, Swedish National Audit Office (SNAO) and Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).


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