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Tough stand against sinful public accountants
2006-06-14 09:36:00
By Editor
The surest test of good governance is the quality of public institutions put in place to render services to communities.
Public organizations are managed by people as trustees of handling public affairs under the guidance of rules and regulations.
In principle, public tenets define the ’cause and effect’ relationships for bearers of public offices. Likewise, a rewarding domain upholds common values for reference and maintenance of order.
So, here is a law establishing the existence of the Controller and Auditor General’s (CAG) office. Its basic function is to verify whether or not public finances are expended in accordance with public accounting rules and regulations.
This time, its report is more elaborate than ever, as it details spending practices at the levels of government ministries, departments and agencies.
As a matter of routine, gross financial indiscipline has been uncovered. Consequently, the government has suffered a stunning Tsh.140bn during the 2004/05 fiscal year.
This colossal amount of loss is not the burning issue, but the prolonged tradition of allowing errant public accountants to behave as though as if Tanzania is a lawless country.
The origins of all laws stem from the process of human civilization, whereby as societies became more complex in terms of behaviours and relationships, some kind of social restraints had to be devised.
The CAG report says the roots to the rampant public finance mismanagement are weaknesses in accounting system, inadequate supervision and failure to observe rules and regulations of public financial management.
What follows after the CAG report? If accounting records are missing and no legal action is taken against the custodians of public financial records, how and why should we justify the existence of such public office bearers?
Common sense would tell that tampering with records is aimed at distorting evidence about financial fraud and cheating.
The convention of sending the CAG report to parliamentary committees for scrutiny has not so far yielded the much desired public outcome.
An enduring solution to this seemingly chronic mismanagement of public revenues is to reform the CAG into one-stop service centre.
It must be given legal powers to prosecute the fraudulent public accountants. It must be given teeth. It should stop being a toothless bulldog.
Proposed punishment should include confiscation of property proved to be illegally obtained. This way, the natural law of ’cause and effect’ will act as an institutional restraint against public theft.
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