DAR ES SALAAM: The speaker of National Assembly of Tanzania, Mussa Zungu, has called for tougher action against officials who misuse public funds, urging parliamentary committees to strengthen oversight of government spending.
Zungu warned that financial mismanagement could undermine implementation of the country’s long-term development agenda, including the national Vision 2025–2050 framework.
He made the remarks while opening a three-day training session for parliamentary standing committees in Dar es Salaam organised by the National Audit Office of Tanzania.
The session brought together members of key oversight committees, including the Local Authorities Accounts Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Budget Committee.
Zungu said the office of the Controller and Auditor General (Tanzania) acts as the “eyes of Parliament” in monitoring how public resources are used.
He directed parliamentary committees to publicly identify and hold accountable individuals found to have misused public funds and to ensure that committee recommendations are implemented once approved by parliament.
“Misuse of public resources can undermine our long-term development goals,” Zungu said, calling for stronger accountability mechanisms.
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He added that the 13th Parliament was ready to amend rules and laws where necessary to facilitate national development and ensure government programmes proceed without delays.
“We cannot delay development or revenue collection simply because of procedural regulations,” he said.
Zungu also said parliament would review the current process that requires audit reports to be discussed before the budget session, with the aim of making oversight more timely and effective.
Speaking earlier, Charles Kichere, the country’s Controller and Auditor General, said the training aimed to equip parliamentary committees with the skills needed to analyse audit reports effectively and to question government officials appearing before them.
Kichere also proposed adjusting the audit reporting timeline so that reports could be completed by December rather than March, aligning Tanzania with international auditing standards and improving the relevance of oversight.
He added that the number of financial audit reports has increased due to expanded audit coverage, particularly in areas where the government has invested heavily, including local government authorities and strategic national projects
