Mwinyi reveals source of funds for development projects, flags corruption in Zanzibar 

Dar es Salaam. Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi has explained where his government gets money to fund some of the island's development projects.

"What's the secret to our source of funds? Well, it is not a secret. I want to tell Zanzibaris that we have two main sources: One, we use money that used to be embezzled and not remitted to state coffers," he explained during a fireside chat at the Mwananchi Thought Leadership Forum (MTLF) in Zanzibar.

"Government funds were being misspent across various sectors. From the airport, port, local licencing authorities, and many areas," Mwinyi revealed, adding that if the government is willing to collect all this money and utilise it, then real development can be achieved and the budget can be covered.

The second source, which is the largest and something that the Zanzibar government never used to do but has now started, is concessional loans.

“In the past, when we had, say, a project that required Sh20 billion, we had to save Sh2 billion from the budget each year for the project,” he noted.

He added: "That project will take 10 years to complete. We have decided against this strategy. We would rather get a concessional loan for the Sh20 billion, then implement the project within a short period of time and pay the annual Sh2 billion for 10 years," Mwinyi explained.

He added that that is why Zanzibar now has many development projects, such as schools, hospitals, and everything else that is being built, done through getting loans in advance and repaying them after a certain period of time.