{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Magufuli expands cost cutting agenda to EAC - News | The Citizen
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Magufuli expands cost cutting agenda to EAC - News
Arusha. President John Pombe Magufuli was clearly in his element, mixing seriousness and humour, eliciting applause and laughter in equal measure, as he chaired the East African Community (EAC) Summit yesterday.
Dr Magufuli took to task the EAC and its institutions over high expenditure tendency that has drawn repeated criticisms from the regional politicians and donors alike.
The Tanzanian leader, who started his leadership by unleashing a war against public officials who were notorious for misuse of taxpayers' money and graft, took his anti-corruption drive to the regional body by calling for cuts on unnecessary expenditure.
"Why shouldn't the EAC start thinking of cutting down costs on things which are not necessary?" he asked as he appeared concerned by the quality of the costly meeting hall where air conditioners appeared not to work properly.
Dr Magufuli said EAC was there to serve the ordinary and poor people of the region and that it should not be turned into a cash cow by few people who did not with the bloc well.
Although he did not mention any officials or the departments that should mend their ways, the Head of State said reports of vulgar expenditure of East African taxpayers' money have been an issue for a long time.
"EAC should put its house in order," he said, indicating that he would not averse to extending his war against extravagance to the regional organisation because corruption and misuse of public funds were enemies of all the East Africans.
He hinted that the cost of hosting the Summit at the private lodge outside Arusha City was sure to be much higher than it would have been if it was hosted at come other conference facility in town and to be more specific, at the public-owned Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC).
He noted that the cost of hosting every delegate at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, the traditional venue for EAC Summits and other major conferences, was $45 per head which, he said, could be much lower if the venue was in Arusha town.
President Magufuli started to express his reservations on the suitability of the venue right from the word go, when the Summit kicked off at 2.20pm after more than four hours of consultations by the Heads of State and delegations. He said he wished the deliberations of the Summit were shorter, partly because the conference halls at the lodge, located 30km east of Arusha, had no properly working air conditioners to stem the hot weather of the area this time of the year.
Most of the pronouncements by the Tanzanian leader seemed to win the support the delegates, more so with the way he managed the Summit, pleading with the contributors to be brief and to the point in order to save time and maybe, money.
As was the case with his election campaigns last year, he called for massive industrialisation in East Africa and equated large scale exports of raw materials and unprocessed goods to exporting of jobs to the outside world at a time when millions of people in EA were jobless.
But it was his remarks on the alleged huge expenditure of funds at the EAC headquarters that dominated discussions among senior officials of the regional body and delegates at the Summit.
The remarks have come only three months after an Audit Account Report of the EAC for the year ending June 2014 revealed serious mismanagement of funds.
The report was tabled before the East African Assembly (Eala) plenary session in Kigali, Rwanda and in one case, a whopping $5.1 million was found to have been used on air tickets which, according to the report, were not properly procured.
Queries were also raised for the $3.4m air travel expenditure for the year ending June 2013.
The no-nonsense Dr Magufuli hastened to say that he would ensure that there was a reduction of expenditure at the regional body. His tenure as chair of the EAC Heads of State Summit was extended for one year yesterday.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said the EAC bloc should not only enhance economic and trade relations but should also enable the region to be competitive in the global trade and investment flows.
He said although it would take years, if not decades, for the region to compete effectively with major economic powers such as China and the US, East Africans could also cooperate in order to survive the onslaught of the mega multi-nationals. President Kagame of Rwanda welcomed the admission of South Sudan to the bloc, saying Kigali was ready to cooperate with the new member. The Rwandan leader, known for his zero-tolerance towards corruption, praised the measures taken by the Tanzanian leader in his anti-graft drive.
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