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Stringent anti-graft law coming - Shein
2006-09-22 09:02:37
By Adam Ihucha, Arusha
The government will in the next session of parliament table a Bill for a new law aimed at preventing and combating corruption to buttress its zero tolerance policy, the Vice-President, Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, said yesterday.
The new anti-graft law, among other things, embraces best practices as spelt out in international conventions in the fight against corruption and the Southern African Development Community Protocol anti-corruption conventions.
’’The new law will signify that Tanzania had acceded to and ratified all international and regional protocols to fight corruption in fulfilment of its obligations’’,Dr Shein told the Second Global Organisation of Parliamentarian’s Against Corruption (GOPAC) conference in Arusha.
According to the Transparency International corruption perception index (CPI),the score rose from 1.9 in 1998 to 2.8 in 2004.
’’This is a reasonable improvement taking into account the efforts being made in the fight against the scourge,’’ Dr Shein told the over 300 delegates from 60 countries participating in the conference.
Despite this demonstration of determination by the government to combat corruption, he said, the country still needs to reinforce stringent laws to combat the vice.
’’Corruption affects economic, political, social and cultural aspects of our national life. It is a daunting challenge, but it is also surmountable’’ Dr Shein noted.
He added: ’’It is natural that in such a fierce battle, there are bound to be problems, errors, misunderstandings and new challenges.
We need to deal with them by all means so that they do not detract or paralyse efforts to curb corruption in public life and the society as a whole.’’
Dr Shein, who is the acting president of the body, told the conference that Tanzania is on the right track and making progress.
’’What we need to do is to sustain, widen and improve our execution of the fight against corruption. We have the basic infrastructure and institutional framework, all in place,’’ he said, in a speech under the theme: war against corruption.
The GOPAC chairman, John Williams, a Canadian MP said the organisation is a global institution of self-governing regional and national chapters of parliamentarians committed to reducing corruption by improving the effectiveness of parliaments as institutions of oversight and accountability.
The chairman of the African Parliamentarians Network against Corruption (APNAC) Augustine Ruzindana, a Ugandan MP, said his organisation is a non-partisan institution formed by individual Members of Parliament from across Africa with the specific objective of fight against corruption.
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