Dodoma — THE Parliament on Saturday agreed to a total of 38 resolutions that the government must now work on in implementing recommendations made in the 2020/21 Controller and Auditor General (CAG)'s report.
The resolutions are meant to address loss of public funds, increase revenues and bring efficiency in government institutions.
The Parliament unanimously agreed to the resolutions after a four-day debate on three reports of the Parliamentary committees on Public Accounts (PAC), Public Investments (PIC) and Local Authorities Accounts (LAAC) over the CAG report.
"The government has to bring a report to the CAG by February next year over the implementation of the Parliament's resolutions," National Assembly Speaker Dr Tulia Ackson directed.
She added: "I would want to see that when we meet next year we see steps have been taken in implementing these resolutions."
The Parliament endorsed 14 resolutions from PAC, 11 resolutions from LAAC and the remaining 13 resolutions from the PIC.
When presenting the resolutions, PAC Deputy Chairperson Japhet Hasunga said the government should do a comprehensive tax regime review to enable the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) collect more revenues and meet its collection targets.
The House directed the government to pump in more capital to the three strategic public companies of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) and State Mining Company (STAMICO) to make them more productive.
The Parliament further directed that operations of the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) be under the Tanzania Airport Authority (TAA) instead of Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company (KADCO), ordering the CAG to carry out a comprehensive audit on the KADCO's accounts from 2010 and bring the report to the Parliament.
It was also directed that the government should bring to the Parliament a schedule for repaying loans it took from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and Public Service Social Security Fund (PSSSF) in order to give them financial muscles to pay retirees efficiently.
"The MSD should deliver medicines in one month after receiving the payment from customer, especially the district councils, and inform the councils within 24 hours if it doesn't have an ordered drug in its shelves so that the councils could procure such medicine from private suppliers," Mr Hasunga read the resolution.
On his part, LAAC Deputy Chairperson Stanslaus Mabula said the disciplinary bodies should take measures against directors of district councils who failed to effectively supervise the issuance of loans to special groups (women, youths and people with disabilities) in their respective areas.
He further said that all councils that wish to make investments should have a business plan before investing and the government should have investment guidelines for councils so that they engage in profitable ventures.
"The government should ensure that the new system of revenue collection starts being used in all councils during the next financial year in a bid to up collections in the councils," Mr Mabula stated.
On other hand, the government was told to take disciplinary measures against councils' officials involved in loss of revenues in the current electronic system used in revenue collection.
The Parliament also resolved that all councils should not accept drugs whose shelf life is less than six months.
Chairman of the PIC, Mr Jerry Silaa, also read 13 resolutions, including that of addressing the issue of public institutions operating board of directors.
It was learnt that 12 institutions have board chairpersons but don't have members of the boards while 23 institutions other don't have chairpersons and board members.
"The government should appoint members of the boards within three months," he read.
Earlier, different ministers contributed to the debate as they offered explanation on the issues raised by MPs during the four-day debate.
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Works and Transport Minister Prof Makame Mbarawa said the government has started the process of crafting a Bill to have a law that will address various shortcomings learnt in the operations of Tanzania Airport Authority (TAA).
The planned law will decide whether the KADCO will stay or not or whether to form a sister company to run Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).
Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Adolf Mkenda spoke about improving the Higher Education Students Loans Board (HESLB) as recommended by the CAG.
The CAG recommended for improvement in policy and laws for higher education financing, including asking the ministry to strengthen supervision on the board.
"Higher education financing policy needs the review to improve higher education financing. There is also a room for the ministry to increase oversight on the board," Prof Mkenda said.
