Fuel Guzzlers Criticised

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

Bernard Lugongo

23 June 2011

Rwanda’s Ambassador to Tanzania Fatuma Ndangiza yesterday said governments in poor countries should abolish expenditure on expensive vehicles for public officials and said they should instead use means that were affordable for their economies.Ms Ndangiza was contributing to a discussion on resolutions made at the Africa Public Services Forum that has been going on for the past three days in Dar es Salaam. Top officials from several African, Asian and Arab countries attended the forum.

The Rwandese Ambassador’s call comes at a time when the Tanzanian Parliament has been engulfed in a hot debate over the huge perks paid to state officials and MPs as well as the deployment of expensive fuel guzzling vehicles by public officials. Led by the opposition party Chadema, some legislators have even called for the scrapping of the sitting allowances while Mr Freeman Mbowe, the party’s national chairman who is also the leader of opposition in Parliament, has turned down a luxurious land cruiser vehicle allocated to his office by the National Assembly.

The Tanzanian government has offered to review its allowance payment system under the national development’s five-year strategic plan, in which it has also pledged to minimise expenditure on items such as vehicles.

The Rwandese official whose government has set pace in curbing unnecessary cost in running the government said African governments should reduce unnecessary expenditure and allocate the money to projects that are beneficial to the citizens.

Rwandese President Paul Kagame has banned public officials from using the VX type of vehicles and instead offered them loan facilities to buy personal vehicles while the government retains pocket-friendly cars for top state officials. Neighbouring Kenya has also banned expensive cars for top government officials and restricted ministers to less expensive VW Passat vehicles.

“If we want to improve people’s lives, business should not be as usual… Let’s abandon expensive cars such as Land Cruisers as there are more convenient cars for us” Ms Ndangiza said. She also said that African countries have good policies, but their implementation was poor.

“As public servants, we have to work hard…let’s work at least ten hours a day,” he said.

The Forum brainstormed on the theme for this year’s public Service Day; ‘Transformative Leadership in Public Administration and Innovation in Governance: Creating a Better Life For All.’

During the forum, African leaders, including ministers and other government executives, resolved that for African governments should commit themselves firmly to good governance, with a deliberate focus on the formulation and implementation of pro-poor policies to foster equitable societies where all individuals have equal opportunities.

Also, there is a need for the governments to formulate deliberate plans for building leadership capacity and in this regard, to develop comprehensive programmes focused on institutional and human capacity-building.

This would thus ensure more successful implementation of policy decisions through effective and innovative public services, and efficient institutions.The African governments were also reminded that they can take advantage of information and communication technology (ICT) tools in fostering results-based governance.

It was agreed in the forum that the ICT would make citizens knowledgeable about critical areas such as disaster readiness as well as enhancing transparency and public accountability through information collection and dissemination, and as a feedback mechanism.

The participants also resolved that the role of e-governance remained crucial for improving the performance of the public sector.Governments should also establish new partnerships for public service provision with non-traditional sectors, and roles of all stakeholders have to be redefined.

In this regard, states were reminded of their obligation to develop minimum standards for gender responsive service delivery and establish accountability frameworks that could take into account constraints and access of users with diverse needs, including marginalised populations.

To improve the public service, the forum agreed that the engagement of women and non-governmental organizations in the delivery and oversight of services was crucial for ensuring better accountability for service delivery.African nations should also re-affirm the principle of gender parity that has been adopted by the African Union Commission.

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