Local Government Authorities (LGA) leaders have been urged to fight corruption in all its forms and work towards maximum revenue collection in their areas for the benefit of Tanzanian citizens. The call was made by the Honorable Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa during his speech at the Association of Local Authorities of Tanzania’ (ALAT) Annual General Meeting held at Dodoma on 7-9th April 2016.

He said LGAs that will fail to collect 80% of the revenues are in danger of being revoked, and therefore urged LGA leaders to eliminate all bottlenecks that hinder revenue collection and ordered for every district to have land planning programmes so as to deter land conflicts.

“Citizens have to be trained on appropriate farming techniques so that our farm produce can be marketable outside Tanzania. LGAs should work with financial institutions such as NMB, TIB and TIC so as to advance projects in their areas and increase the efficiency of revenue collection,” he said.

He also stressed that the government is ready to support all these efforts that will increase revenue collection. For instance, he said the government is currently in the process of amending its laws so that they aim for maximum revenue collection and has embarked on a plan to put friendly environment or conditions favorable to investors.

In responding to a request that was made by the Chairperson of ALAT, Gulam Mdakam, to decentralize the employment autonomy to districts so that they can also be able to hire and fire, he said that some of the districts have already been given mandate to employ.

The Managing Director of NMB, Ineke Bussemaker, said that NMB has recently introduced a project aiming to increase revenue collection and that the project was piloted in Arusha which saw the district double the amount of revenue collected.

The Deputy Minister of PMORALG-Suleiman Jaffo called on LGA leaders to set a good example in their districts and properly manage public resources so that they benefit the citizens in their locales and emphasized that they should conduct performance appraisals to officials so as to void themselves of the belief that districts will continue to be run in a business as usual (BAU) manner.

At the end of the event a representative from ALAT read the resolution of the AGM before the Deputy Minister of PMORALG, one of the resolution being that ALAT should engage with Policy Forum so as to advocate for impactful policies related to local governance.