Tanzanian President John Magufuli has dismissed the head of the government’s anti-graft body for failing to tackle high-level corruption in east Africa’s second-biggest economy, Magufuli’s office said.
Magufuli sacked Edward Hoseah, the long-serving director general of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), due to the slow pace of the fight against graft.
Hoseah has led the government’s anti-graft watchdog for the past nine years and previously served as its director of investigations for almost a decade.
“The president … is not satisfied with the manner in which this institution (PCCB) has been carrying out its duties to tackle corruption,” the president’s office said in a statement.
The president has also suspended four other senior officials of the PCCB for defying the government’s ban on foreign travel by public officials as part of austerity measures.
Magufuli launched a campaign to root out corruption and inefficiency in Tanzania since his inauguration last month and has already sacked several senior officials as a sign of his determination to fight graft.
Businesses have long complained that corruption is one of the main reasons for the high cost of doing business in Tanzania.
The sacking comes barely a week after Magufuli dismissed the head of Tanzania’s ports authority and the top official in the transport ministry over graft and tax evasion allegations.