Tanzania: President Magufuli sacks 9,932 civil servants

Tanzania President John Magufuli on Friday fired 9,932 civil servants over forged educational qualifications.

Magufuli made the announcement on state television after an investigative task force found that 9,932 government workers presented fake qualifications when they were employed.

He ordered that the salaries of the affected workers for the month of April should be withheld.

The president said the dismissed civil servants would have to defend themselves in court.

About 3,000 other civil servants were suspended while their certificates were being verified.

Magufuli ordered that other civil servants whose certificates have been found with discrepancies should be treated legally “so that they could be jailed for seven years as the law says.

President Magufuli reiterated that government was losing Sh19.84 billion monthly or Sh238.1 billion annually to phantom workers.

Speaking earlier,a Minister in the president’s office, Kairuki noted that a total of 435,000 had their certificates verified, whereby 9,932 civil servants were found with forged certificates.

According to Kairuki 1,538 academic certificates were used by 3,076 public servants.

The task force investigates the educational certificates of 435,000 civil servants throughout the East African nation.