Government plans to employ 71,496 workers in various departments and institutions immediately

THE Minister of State in the President’s Office, Public Service Management and Good Governance, Ms Angela Kairuki, has said the government plans to employ 71,496 workers in various departments and institutions immediately after the ongoing exercise to stamping out phantom workers in the government’s payroll is over.

The minister who was speaking at State House at an integrity pledge event for the newly appointed District Executive Directors (DEDs) said, however, that the government was still working on ghost workers, saying that the last figure of the nonexistent workers stood at 12,246 and that the government was still working round the clock to ensure that they were removed from the payroll.

Last month, the government through the Public Service Management Permanent Secretary (PS), Laurean Ndumbaro, decided to halt employment as well as stop all salary increments in the public service until all ghost workers were removed from the pay roll, amid fear from job seekers.

But President John Magufuli assured the public that it was temporary, assuring those aspiring to secure jobs in the next financial year to wait for at least two months so that the government could accomplish its exercise to weed out ghost workers.

Yesterday, Ms Kairuki Directed DEDs to add pace on the exercise upon arriving at duty stations, assuring the public that the new pending jobs would be offered immediately after the exercise. Regarding ethics for public leaders, the minister said there were a lot of complaints in municipalities, city councils, districts and town councils that public leaders were blatantly disregarding the Public Ethics code of ethics.

“As you leave for your new offices, you should bear in mind that there are many leaders who have appeared before the Ethics Secretariat and Ethics Tribunal for disobeying the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act,’’ she noted.

She said that the Fifth Phase Government was fully committed to ensuring that public leaders observed the code of Ethics. She also warned leaders firing their subordinates without following appropriate legal procedures, advising the DEDs to advise properly their district and regional commissioners accordingly so that the government could save the money it was paying those who were legally fired.

Earlier on, the Commissioner of the Ethics Secretariat, Judge (rtd) Salome Kaganda, assured the newlyappointed DEDs that they would be safe if they work within the limit of the law and avoid abusing their discretionary powers. “Sometimes you might be forced by external pressure to disclose confidential public documents to unauthorised people, please do not do that and I assure you that you will be safe,” she remarked.

Speaking shortly after taking an integrity pledge, former Tanzania Standard Newspapers (TSN) accountant, Mr Shafi Kassim Mpenda, who is among the new DEDs for Madaba District Council, said upon arriving at his duty station he would explore opportunities in his district that would help to bring rapid development.

“I am set to ensure that all the pending projects are fully implemented as I will visit the sites on regular basis. Songwe District Council DED, Mr Elias Nawela, said because he was posted in a new region, he would work to ensure that he implements the government’s directive of enabling the country to have an industrial economy.

“I want to make sure that everyone is exploring an opportunity and develop depending on the talents they have.