Zanzibar — “WHEN a public institution underperforms, we blame them, but let us also build a culture of praising them if they perform well,” these are words of President Hussein Ali Mwinyi when he addressed a gathering to celebrate this year’s International Anti-corruption day and Human Rights Day.
The Anti-corruption and Human Rights days are celebrated on December 9 and December 10 respectively, but Zanzibar combined the days and celebrated them on December 16 at a colourful event held at the Zanzibar Beach Resort Hotel. The International days were skipped because 9th December is Tanganyika national Independence Day.
In August this year, Dr Mwinyi blamed the Zanzibar Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Authority (ZAECA) for incompetence and laziness in helping the government curb misappropriation of public funds and failure to hold executives accountable in projects that do not reflect value-for-money.
He made the condemnation on ZAECA after receiving the 2020/21 audit report unveiled by the Zanzibar Controller and Auditor General, Dr Othman Abass, which shows that more than 4.6bn/= was not accounted for by various government entities during the period under review.
“If we were committed in work like the CAG, we wouldn’t see over utilization of public funds. This has been repeating itself in audit reports. ZAECA is doing nothing to help the government. It must evaluate itself,” Dr Mwinyi lamented, leading to the resignation of the executive director of ZAECA followed by some reforms and appointment of a new director.
But almost five months later, the Isles President expressed happiness on how ZAECA and other instruments have been tackling corruption and dealing with unethical leaders in government, which is progress in having accountable leaders and good governance.
Reforms taken by Dr Mwinyi in promoting an attitude of transparency, inclusiveness and collaboration backed by enabling factors, mainly political will, a free media and sanctioning mechanisms have helped to improve good leadership and fighting corruption.
Dr Mwinyi poured praise on Zanzibar Public Leaders’ Ethics Commission (ZAPLEC); ZAECA; Controller & Auditor General (CAG); Tanzania Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG); and Department of Good Governance for being on track in addressing malpractices in the government.
“These institutions deserve praise since they are now performing well in fighting the unacceptable practises in public offices. When they do good, we need to motivate them,” the enthusiastic President explained to the participants of the event dubbed ‘Ethical and Human Rights Day,’ under the theme “Let us unite against corruption, embezzlement public funds, theft of public property, and promote morals, human rights and the foundations of good governance for social development.’
He said despite the progress, the issue of promoting accountability, preventing corruption and economic crime requires joint efforts between the government and private institutions, and that ZAECA has the responsibility to work in collaboration with various local and foreign institutions for its effectiveness in addressing corruption and economic crime.
“ZAECA must also collaborate with Law Enforcement Agencies, Civil Societies, Défense and Security Agencies, the Anti-Corruption Authority (Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB-TAKUKURU) and international organizations. Strengthening collaboration increases public awareness over the effects of corruption and economic crime.” he explained.
He said that it is possible to make Zanzibar a corruption free country with accountable leaders at all levels, should the collaboration in anti-corruption and unethical leaders’ crusade continue unabated, and that his government is fully committed to ensure moral and financial discipline in public offices.
“I would like to remind my fellow leaders that leadership is to serve people as stipulated in the Zanzibar Constitution of 1984 and that the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar has put in place strategies to curb corruption,” he said.
He said that leaders’ ethics and property declaration forms submitted to ZAPLEC currently are 2,485 and those submitted after the deadline were eleven in 2021, and that the Commission received and handled a total of 22 complaints of violations of ethics and misconduct.
The complaints were about abuse of power (18), sexual harassment (2), favouritism in employment (1) and neglecting the family (1). The complaints are already in different stages of being handled. For the year 2021/2022, ZAECA managed to save a total of 1.3bn/-.
“I would like to inform you that I have already taken disciplinary action against leaders who the Commission reported to me for being unethical and abusing their powers. I also urge other disciplinary and appointing authorities to discipline unethical leaders,” Dr Mwinyi said.
Present during the occasion were First Lady Maryam Mwinyi, Second Vice President Hemed Suleiman Abdulla, Chief Secretary Eng. Zena Ahmed Said, Speaker of the House Mr Zubeir Ali Maulid, Chief Justice Khamis Ramadhan Shaban and the State Minister- President’s Office (Constitution, Legal Affairs, Public Service, and Good Governance) Mr Haroun Ali Suleiman.
Minister Haroun handed over a CD containing activities by President Mwinyi in the past two years of his leadership and a trophy in recognition of his great contribution in developing human rights in the country and admirable success in the war against corruption.
Mr Assa Ahmad Rashid, chairperson of ZAPLEC said his commission has been progressing well because of political will, but there are delays in filling property declaration forms, where only 795 out of 2527 (about 32 percent) of all public leaders have filled them. They were supposed to fill and submit them by December 31, of every year.
The ZAPLEC chair put emphasis on leaders to observe regulations and ethics so that they serve citizens and other people with integrity and also collaborate with the media to increase public awareness on the negative impact of corruption and misconduct on development.
The celebrations held in Zanzibar were coloured by Quran recitation by Hassan Ali Kombo/Quran recitation and translation, Kaswida lyric; poem by Ms Farida Rajab Taufiq; and a short drama portraying the importance of observing ethics and avoid corruption practices.
UNDP Administrator Mr Achim Steiner said, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. With a vow to ensure the rights of everyone everywhere, this first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) remains the most powerful commitment on human rights that our global community has made.”
In the decades since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, human rights have become more recognised and more guaranteed across the globe. It has since served as the foundation for an expanding system of human rights protection that today focuses also on vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and migrants.
However, the promise of the UDHR of dignity and equality in rights, has been under a sustained assault in recent years. As the world faces challenges in new and ongoing pandemics, conflicts, exploding inequalities, morally bankrupt global financial system, racism, climate change – the values, and rights enshrined in the UDHR provide guideposts for collective actions that do not leave anyone behind.