Media reports that Tanzanian authorities have launched a national audit to find “ghost workers” and remove them from civil service payrolls under a corruption crackdown ordered by President John Pombe Magufuli.

Imagine a greater  insult than this case..A country where half the population is dirt poor steals from itself .. “A 2015 audit found the government had paid Tsh141.4 billion ($64.80 million) to fake workers over that year.”

“Ghost workers” are categorize into three groups, employees who earn salaries they don’t diverse, Fake identities added in the payroll and employees who get promoted through political influence to position which they are not qualified for.

The later “Ghost workers” are “often agents” planted in public institutions to circumvent security systems exposing the region to Transnational Organized Crime. Maritime and transport sectors are most notorious with management averse to conduct skill – audits that is necessary to improve performance and disrupt criminal cartels.

President John Pombe Magufuli’s courage’s to clean Tanzania of “Ghost workers” is refreshing. The President is fighting corruption from the front and is appropriately arming himself to deal with corruption menace. In Africa even one’s therapist can be corrupt…

Not sure about his upbringing, maybe this President John Pombe Magufuli was raised by missionaries or is a product of foreign adoption either a European, Japanese or Korean family.  We Africans raise our children to think like criminals; very few voiceless African families raise their children appropriately…

Some of the thoughts I have raised might hurt, disturb and disappoint some of my friends and followers, for that I apologies.

We know fighting corruption is not popular; it hurts friendship and exposes the upright to ridicule. I am trained in chasing terrorists and dismantling organized crime formations, particular in maritime sector.

Speaking for myself,  I have been advised to go slow on fighting corruption and reporting maladministration, been reminded that a corruption free Africa is Utopian, warned that I  will not see myself progress beyond my current station.

Fortunately, I have accepted this reality, that proposing or advocating socials reforms throws one lemons. “Life gave many of us lemons, so I made my lemonade” I am shouting and sharing my voice crowding out those who might want us silent…

Criminal intelligence

Launching a national audit to weed out “ghost workers” from civil service payrolls is noble; conversely I am of the view that cracking down on corruption without addressing the developed nexus with organized crime formations with “agents” planted in critical areas of in transport and related sectors tasked to operate criminal syndicates makes the audit ineffective.

Tanzanian government must embed criminal intelligence in the exercise; the region must lessons from Tanzanian courage.  The direct consequence of poor employment practices is increased  drug trafficking, illegal exports of wildlife products, tax evasion and money laundering  executed by a multiplication of highly organized criminal networks.

These threat networks finance terrorism and maritime sector corruption.  Intelligence community has established that a nexus does exist between Ghost workers in Maritime Transport Sector and Transnational Organized Crime…