6/28/08

Corruption-free Zanzibar? What grace for Tanzania!
 
2008-06-28 10:23:25
By Editor

It now appears that there is, after all, some secluded place in the world where there is completely no corruption -and it is Zanzibar!

Think this is stranger than fiction? To prove yourself wrong, ask for a recap of what Dr Mwinyihaji Makame, Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs in the Office of Isles` President Amani Abeid Karume told the Zanzibar House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The minister is on record as having said the idyllic `Spice Islands` of proverbial elegance and allure have no equivalents of the corruption-related scandals at play elsewhere in Tanzania.

Contributing to debate on the estimates of the 2008/Zanzibar Government budget, he said: ``The Bank of Tanzania`s External Payment Arrears (EPA) account scam and other corruption scandals facing some government officials on the Mainland should not be brought here. We are clean and diligent.``

Rather curiously, he soon admitted that the Isles government had granted tax exemptions to the tune of a whopping 19.6 billion/-.

By his own admission, the amount was just a little less than the total revenue of 20.4 billion/- collected during the period under review.

Not one to go down without a fight, Makame quickly added that all the exemptions were granted ``in line with the laws of the land and for the benefit of the investment sector``.

By virtue of his senior position, the minister is not the kind of person whose remarks can be easily taken lightly or ignored.

His decision to comment so authoritatively on such an important and sensitive issue is reason enough for his words to be subjected to extra-thorough analysis.

Some years ago, a West African state assumed a brand new name just because its top leadership wanted the world to believe that was in consonance with a revolutionary dream to make it a corruption-free zone. The strategy was a non-starter.

In May 1960, Father of the Nation Mwalimu Julius Nyerere told the then Tanganyikan Legislative Council (Parliament) it would be dishonest of anyone to believe that corruption would show mercy to the country or its judiciary.

Much later, renowned Judge Kahwa Lugakingira aired similar sentiments by declaring that ``the virulent virus`` of corruption had crept into the Tanzanian judiciary and was killing its legendary independence.

Reputable watchdog agencies like Transparency International have ample documentary evidence that corruption is a universal cancer to which whole communities and nations have succumbed.

Makame may choose to exercise his basic rights by dismissing all these views or submissions as wrong, uninformed or unfounded.

However, whether that would mean he would himself be right is a different matter.

One thing we are sure about is that it is impossible for all Zanzibaris to be incorruptible or for the Isles to be effectively insulated or immunised against the disastrous consequences of corruption.

Although having a corruption-free Zanzibar would be a huge boon for Tanzania and the world, the best he could hope for is to help tame the tiger by joining national, regional and international efforts towards that end. There is no safer escape route.






--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66

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