Tanzania's Zanzibar president urges EALA to reinforce legislation to combat corruption

Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-27 00:01:53|Editor: yan
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ARUSHA, Tanzania, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Ali Mohamed Shein, President of Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar on Tuesday urged the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to come up with strong legislation that supports law enforcement within partner states to strengthen anti-corruption efforts.

Shein made the remarks at the official opening of the 4th meeting of the second session of EALA, which is held in Zanzibar.

He lauded EALA for tabling an Ethics and Anti-Corruption Bill for discussion, which he cited as a promising step towards uprooting corruption in the region.

According to him, the East African Community maintained its position as the fastest growing sub-region in Africa with accelerated growth of 4.6 percent in 2017 compared to 4.4 in 2016.

"This achievement can reach greater heights in the years to come if we become vigilant of corruption and strongly abide by the principal values that guide our work within the Community," he said.

"Corruption impairs good governance. It is a strong constraint on economic prosperity," said Shein.

He said that Zanzibar and the Tanzania mainland have shored up law enforcement, increased judiciary budgets and manpower to expedite judgment of corruption cases.

Martin Ngoga, the EALA Speaker, commended Shein for his endeavors to address corruption, particularly in formulating anti-corruption authority, which is one of the key tools towards scaling down the malpractices in Zanzibar.

EALA members are from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

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