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Magufuli sacks NIDA boss over $82.3 mn expenditure

Tuesday January 26 2016
magufuli

Tanzanian president John Magufuli. PHOTO | FILE |

Tanzanian President John Magufuli has sacked National Identification Authority (NIDA) Director General Dickson Maimu pending a probe over the questionable expenditure of Tsh179.6 billion ($82.3 million) in the national identity cards scheme.

Mr Magufuli has also suspended four other senior NIDA officials - ICT director Joseph Makani, senior procurement officer Rahel Mapande, director of legal affairs Sabrina Nyoni and transport officer George Ntalima.

The Head of State directed that the country's Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) and Controller and Auditor General (CAG) investigate how the money was spent.

Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue told a news conference at State House that the president had received complaints that the pace of issuance of national IDs was too slow and could not justify the expenditure of such huge sums of money.

“The President has therefore directed relevant agencies to conduct an investigation into all procurement processes carried out by Nida to establish whether there was value for money and the number of IDs that have been issued so far and determine whether there were elements of corruption,” the chief secretary said.

He added that the sacked and suspended officials will be replaced as soon as possible.

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The move is only the latest in a raft of austerity measures introduced by president Magufuli since his inauguration and dismissed several officials as a sign of his determination to fight corruption.

READ: Regional ports conference cancelled after sacking of Tanzanian officials

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