EAC revenue officials meet to bolster anti-graft initiatives

Revenue collection officials from East Africa are in Kigali for a three-day meeting on integrity, ethical culture and professionalism enhancement in fighting corruption and increasing revenue collection for economic development. The meeting brings together senior officials and commissioners in charge of integrity, internal audit and investigation in their respective countries. They will review progress in implementing previous decisions and recommendations, then each country will present its own corruption survey statistics for the past three years, according to Stella Cosmos, the chairperson of the committee and director of internal affairs at the Tanzania Revenue Authority. It will be the third meeting of its kind since the first one held in June last year in Kenya. “Corruption in the EAC remains a fundamental barrier to effective tax management which affects trust with stakeholders. Different surveys show that 50 per cent of respondents within tax administration experience corruption. That is why we are seeking ways to tackle the issue,” she said. Cosmos said more efforts were needed in fighting corruption. She cited the East African Bribery Index 2014 Survey on likelihood of encountering bribery indicating that Burundi had the highest likelihood of bribery, at 19.4 per cent, followed by Tanzania, at 19 per cent, Uganda at 17.9 percent, Kenya at 12.3 per cent and Rwanda 2.9 per cent. “We have to join hands in fighting corruption so that tax administration becomes successful. The first step that revenue authorities committee took was to unveil the gaps we have so that an improvement in integrity can be realised. The bribery index perceptions cannot be undermined as it is the starting point of improvement and take initiatives to save taxpayers’ money,” she added. Stella Cosmos the Chairman of the East African Revenue Authorities Technical Committee speaks to press yesterday at Lemigo Hotel. Rwanda Revenue Authority commissioner general Richard Tusabe said, to achieve economic growth, integrity and professional ethics among administration staff were needed. “To achieve sustainable revenue collection we must focus on integrity of our staff. Harmonisation in EAC can boost cross-border trade and investment across the countries where people expect similar treatment in terms of service delivery,” he said. Tusabe said ICT is important in investigating corruption. “We want to embrace ICT in declaring goods and personal property, pay taxes to avoid customers’ contact with staff which could lead to corruption,” he said. The East Africa Bribery Index 2014 Survey indicates that only respondents from Rwanda were satisfied with government efforts towards fighting corruption, while their other East African counterparts felt that government anti-corruption efforts were insufficient. Commissioner General Tusabe speaks to press on the importance of promoting integrity in the revenue collection field.

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EAC revenue officials meet to bolster anti-graft initiatives