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By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM (TrustLaw) - When Jakaya Kikwete was elected president of Tanzania, he was quick to declare corruption a number one enemy and that his administration would fight it with every weapon at its disposal. Eight years on, corruption is still widespread affecting almost every sector of the economy.
Corruption is increasingly becoming a way of life way and an endemic feature of the society. The fight against graft in Tanzania did not start with the present administration; both past and present leaders have played their part in fighting the vice, which is spreading like cancer.
While Transparency International rates Tanzania at 39.1 percent in its Corruption Perception Index - where 100 percent is graft-free - analysts say indices such as the CPI fail to fully capture the pervasiveness of corruption in daily life here. Tanzania’s CPI ranks roughly on par with Uganda and better than its larger east African neighbor Kenya.
Ever since the publication of the Warioba report that assessed the state of corruption in Tanzania in 1996, successive political leaders have adopted many initiatives to tackle graft, including enacting anti-corruption laws and establishing oversight institutions.
The Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) came into existence as a result of such initiatives. President Kikwete has done his part, notably in bringing grand corruption allegations against top public officials, a move considered taboo in previous regimes.
It was President Kikwete who ordered the arrests of former cabinet ministers to appear in court to answer charges of corruption and abuse of office. Several public officials have been jailed for corruption during his administration.
EVERYONE IS CORRUPT
Although the public is generally satisfied with the government’s efforts to fight graft, the truth is that both petty and grand forms of corruption are still a menace to the society.
In everyday life, people rarely avoid the vice because people seem to have accepted corruption as part of the culture. From a business executive in Dar es Salaam to a magistrate in Tabora, a traffic policeman in Kilimanjaro, a bus driver in Mwanza and a primary school teacher in Arusha, corruption has become so endemic that it corrupts everyone.
A resident in Dar es Salaam would rather pay a bribe to get preferential treatment while seeking medical service. He is forced to do so because it is time wasting to go through a chain of bureaucracy in public hospitals. Yet this example sets a bad precedent for a country where the majority of people languish in abject poverty.
A kindergarten teacher, whose job is to instruct toddlers to read and write, finds it morally correct to levy extra charges on parents on the pretext that she gives special attention to their “slow learner” kids.
Likewise, a phlebotomist in a public hospital in charge of drawing, collecting, and distributing blood for free, is forced to sell the blood to the relatives of a “dying patient” so that he bridges the yawning income gap he faces because of his unpaid salary.
A procurement official offers tenders to companies that don’t qualify as long as he is assured of a 10 percent of the total project value, yet this is contrary to the 2004 Public Procurement Law.
The list is long but it all goes back to corruption culture that is deeply embedded in the society.
BRIBES FROM STUDENTS
A popular social networking website www.jamiiforums.com recently conducted a random online survey asking ordinary people if they had ever experienced giving or taking bribes. The answer was an emphatic yes. Six out of 10 people admitted to having taken or given a bribe. It surprised me that so many people would publicly admit to bribery in full knowledge that it is wrong.
As I was flipping through pages of local newspapers the other day, I saw a headline in the newspaper Mwananchi which read: “Takukuru yanasa walimu wakitoza rushwa wanafunzi,” which literary translates to “PCCB arrest school teachers for taking bribes from students.”
The paper tells a sad tale of two secondary school teachers in the southern highlands city of Mbeya, who had been arrested by the PCCB, allegedly for soliciting bribes from their students.
According to the newspaper, the suspects are accused of soliciting and taking bribes ranging from Tsh.500 to 1000($1=1,500 shillings) for arriving late, and those who failed to comply were severely punished. Daniel Mtuka, a PCCB commander in Mbeya, said the suspects, who face corruption charges, had been found with Tsh. 64,000 in cash.
This story caught my attention because it paints a rather disturbing picture of how widespread corruption still is. It shows that corruption has completely eroded the moral fiber of our society.
Despite having tough anti-corruption laws, ordinary people are still tempted to give or take bribes. The PCCB finds it difficult to completely eliminate corruption because it is accepted in everyday life. Who can step forward and say he/she hasn’t taken or given bribe?
Kizito Makoye is a journalist based in Dar as Salaam.
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