Come up with good laws, Shija urges lawmakers

Dar es Salaam. Parliaments should enact laws that are more stringent that would see government officials who are proved to embezzle public funds punished appropriately.

The laws must effectively help to control acts that lead to misappropriation of public funds.

Secretary General for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Dr William Shija, said this yesterday in Dar es Salaam.

He was speaking shortly after the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Anne Makinda, opened a five-day seminar for 60 legislators from 18 CPA member countries.

Dr Shija noted that since Parliament is tasked with supervising government’s conduct and handling of budgets, it has the moral duty to ensure culprits are punished and other officials do not engage in ways that are unacceptable.

“If the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) has established that public accounts are not in order, laws enacted by Parliament must give punishments in line with the weight of the particular offence. Taxpayers money must be protected,” he said.

He said such seminars helped in building capacity among MPs to enable them to undertake their responsibilities more seriously.

At the same occasion, Dr Shija handed Ms Makinda with a guide book that teaches ways that  parliaments can better use in their oversight task.

For her part, Ms Makinda noted that parliaments should be proactive in finding innovative tools and mechanisms to make effective oversights over the executive.

“As I speak, we (in Tanzania)  have initiated a process to enact a legislation that will guide the Budgetary Committee’s operations,” she said.

“Since this is a new development in my Parliament we are still in the learning process.  We will, therefore, count on the support and experience from our colleagues across the Commonwealth countries in order to realise our intended objectives.”

Dr Shija commended the recent reshuffle in the shadow government of the official opposition camp in Parliament. He said that was the way to go.