Tanzanian President John Magufuli has threatened to sack cabinet ministers who do not declare their assets or fail to sign an integrity pledge as part of his anti-corruption drive, Reuters news agency reports.
Magufuli has launched several initiatives to clamp down on corruption since winning an election in November last year.
“The president’s instructions that all ministers who were yet to declare their assets and liabilities should do so before 6pm (on Saturday) has been implemented,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement, adding that those who did not would be fired.
Earlier this week, a body that monitors civil servants said four senior ministers and one junior minister had yet to sign the pledge.
Cabinet ministers and other public officials are required by law to declare their assets and liabilities at the country’s ethics secretariat by Dec. 31 each year, but in the past this has often been ignored. The integrity pledge is new.
Tanzania is one of Africa’s biggest per capita aid recipients, but payments have often been delayed because donors said they were concerned about corruption, poor governance and the slow pace of reforms.
In 2014, a group of donors withheld nearly $500 million in budget support to Tanzania over corruption allegations in the energy industry after a scandal led to the resignations of three cabinet ministers.
