President John Magufuli has given a directive to freeze new government hire, pay increase, transfer and promotion in the Public Service. This directive would stay for up to two months while the government is carrying on with its internal purging of ghost workers in its payroll.
One of the first acts of President Magufuli after his inauguration last year was to order for the removal of all ghost workers – people who were no longer employed by the government but were still receiving various compensations – in the government; central as well as local government. Since the exercise began in March there have been over 12,000 names removed from the payroll saving the Tanzanian tax payers over twenty five billion Shillings in salaries and other compensations.
Speaking at the launching of Bank of Tanzania 50th Anniversary in Dar-es-Salaam on Wednesday President Magufuli said that after finding a huge number of ghost workers it was not wise to continue with new hire while the problem has not been fully dealt with. “It would be a contradiction to continue with new hire while at the same time trying to remove ghost workers; what if we bring new more ghost workers with the new hires?” the President asked. “When a government finds its mistakes it has the duty to fix them” he added.
He said the freeze will be temporary for about one to two months while the purging continues. Beside the removal of ghost workers the government is also trying to streamline some job functions so as to remove redundancies in government positions.
According to Permanent Secretary in the Public Service Dr. Laurean Ndumbaro the government is also looking on its core systems and structures so as to ensure that the new improved system would not allow the creation of other ghost workers in the future.
Some of the people accused of receiving paychecks from the government while not working for it have been arrested and charged in various courts around the country. President Magufuli has received glowing praises within the country and abroad for his no-nonsense anti-corruption moves since he was elected last October in a hard fought race against a united opposition.
_____________________________________
“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason? You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for in order to refer your self-improvement to him? You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.
From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event. That is how Socrates fulfilled himself by attending to nothing except reason in everything he encountered. And you, although you are not yet a Socrates, should live as someone who at least wants to be a Socrates.”
― Epictetus
Post a Comment