DAR ES SALAAM, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania on Wednesday announced new employment for 10,184 public servants to fill the gap left by servants sacked last April over fake academic credentials.
Angela Kairuki, the Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Public Service Management and Good Governance, said the government has issued permits to district councils and other public institutions across the country to employ the new servants.
"The new employees should report to their working stations by August 1 this year," the minister told a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
In April this year, Tanzanian President John Magufuli sacked 9,932 public servants found with fake academic certificates after verification of their academic qualifications.
The President sacked the public servants shortly after he had received a report on public servants' verification of their academic qualifications.
He ordered that April salaries for the 9,932 sacked servants should be withheld.
Magufuli directed Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa that posts which were held by the 9,000-plus unqualified public servants should be advertised immediately.
"They are thieves like any other thieves. You cannot perform if you don't have deserving academic qualifications," fumed President Magufuli.
The President ordered that other civil servants whose certificates have been found with discrepancies should be prosecuted in courts of law.
He said the crackdown on fake academic certificates for public servants will complement an earlier exercise by the government to identify phantom employees.
In May last year Tanzania removed more than 10,000 phantom public servants from its public sector payroll after a nationwide audit. Enditem
