CoST Tanzania Elects New MSG

| CoST Tanzania

CoST Tanzania held its 3rd AGM on 26th March in Dar es Salaam. In addition to the CoST members, observers from Ministries of Works and Health, USAID and TANROADS attended the event.

The Agenda for the AGM included the three year Sustainable Strategic Action Plan (SSAP 2013-2015) which had the recommendations on the future structure of CoST Tanzania, strategic objectives, activities to implement the strategic objectives and the estimated costs; the audited accounts for the Pilot Phase and the financial statement for the transition phase; and the election of the MSG, the Chairperson and the Vice-chairperson.

The Internal Auditor General from the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Mohamed Mtonga, officially opened the AGM. In his opening speech he observed that the Government of Tanzania has established an independent office of the Internal Auditor General, which is a great move to enhancing transparency and accountability in the public sector. Mr. Mtonga commended the collaboration between CoST Tanzania, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and the National Construction Council (NCC) in fighting corruption and he officially announced his office’s application to become a member of CoST Tanzania.

Elections of the MSG were conducted during the AGM using the ‘weighted’ voting system. The permanent members in the MSG (PCCB, PPRA and NCC) representing the public sector and four members from the Civil Society sector were retained. The new MSG is as follows:

  1. From Public Sector: NCC, PPRA and PCCB , and National Audit Office (NAO)
  2. From Civil Society: Architects Association of Tanzania (AAT), Front for Development Initiatives in Africa (ForDIA), Tanzania Civil Engineering Contractors Association (TACECA) and Tanzania Mines and Construction Allied Workers Union (TAMICO).
  3. From Private Sector: Mr. Golden Kigolla, Mr. Kazungu Magili, Eng. Seif Kassanga and Arch. Jehad Abdallah

Arch. Jehad Abdallah was elected as the new Chairperson of the MSG while Mr. Kazungu Magili was elected the Vice-chairperson.

The outgoing Chairperson Eng. Abdul Awadh thanked all who had been involved with CoST for the last five years and for showing dedication to fighting corruption through enhancing transparency.