Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Sunday suspended two senior officials with the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and ordered thorough auditing of five ports over what he described as misuse of public funds.

A statement by the Prime Minister's Office said Majaliwa suspended TPA's director of finance, Nuru Mhando and TPA's finance manager, Witness Mahela, to pave way for the auditing of the ports by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG). 

The statement said Majaliwa ordered the CAG to audit the five ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Mwanza, Mtwara and Kyela after the CAG submitted to him a report on special auditing of Kigoma port for 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 which revealed huge mishandling of public funds.

The premier ordered the auditing of the financial management of the five ports during a meeting with the Minister for Works and Transport, TPA management board, the director-general of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau and the Director of Criminal Investigation held at TPA headquarters in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam. 

Majaliwa said the government received only 70 percent of revenue collected by TPA and the other 30 percent was pocketed by individuals, including some of the TPA staff.