Minister for Finance, Dr Wiliam Mgimwa

The government has said it intends to amend the Treasury Registrar (TR) Act in a bid to ensure parastatal organisations are productive, efficient and beneficial to the government and general public.

In opening remarks at a conference to discuss a proposed Treasury Act in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Minister for Finance Dr Wiliam Mgimwa said the current Act has a number of contradictions.

He said the law, enacted in 1959, has weakness that have proved to be an obstacle for the government to realise potential benefits from state owned firms

“Owing to the contradiction, the TR has no legal power to control the organisations thus resulting to failure of the government to meet its goals,” Dr Mgimwa added, elaborating that some of the Act’s sections would be amended.

There would be a specific office responsible for all parastatal organizations. “We aim to bring more power to Treasury Registrar as the only way to benefit from the organisation and move forward.”

He cited Controller and Auditor General’s queries and Parliamentary Committees’ concerns over many loopholes, saying this indicated that the current Registrar Act was not working properly.

Minister Mgimwa noted that under the new Act, the Treasure Registrar’s office would be a full fledged institution, capable of managing parastatal organisations with a capacity to implement the intended goals.

The weakness found in the registrar Act leads to failure to remit the dividends, he said.

Eaerier on, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Ramadhan Khijjah said the Treasury Registrar’s office manages 270 parastatal organisations, which however did not follow operational rules.

Proper management of the organisations cannot be avoided to reduce the burden on the government, Khijah stressed, explaining that the new act would make them operate under a single law.

According to the minister the decision to bring about the changes making the Registrar’s office independent have been made already.

The key areas are Treasury organisation structure, the registrar’s functions, duties and responsibilities as well as scheme of service, all of which were awaiting presidential approval.