Tanzania sacks top transport officials in graft crackdown

Tanzania’s president sacked several top transport ministry and port officials Monday, in the latest crackdown on graft in the east African nation. President John Magufuli, who took power last month after winning October 25 elections, has introduced a swathe of austerity cuts and crackdowns on public corruption. “The president has revoked the appointment of the permanent secretary in the ministry of transport, Shaaban Mwinjaka,” Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa told state-owned broadcasters. Magafuli also dissolved the board of directors of the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) who run Dar es Salaam port, one of east Africa’s biggest transport hubs.

“The government is also suspending dozens of TPA officials implicated in theft, corrupt and several dubious transactions that made the government lose billion of shillings in revenue,” Majaliwa added, who last week made a surprise visit to Dar es Salaam port, and discovered some 2,400 shipping containers had disappeared without payment of tax. “All those suspected will help police with investigations and may be prosecuted,” he added. Some officials have been jailed for lateness, the head of the tax authority has been suspended and the use of public funds to pay for Christmas and New Year greeting cards banned.