BoT official blocked at Dar airport

Front view of the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. Public servants travelling abroad through the airport for personal business or sponsorship by NGOs face gruesome interrogations and those who fail to produce proof that they are spending their own money on their trips are stopped from leaving the country. PHOTO | FILE 

In Summary

The official, on a private holiday trip, missed the flight for lack of permit

Observation at the Julius Nyerere International Airport has shown that public servants who leave the country for personal business or through sponsorship by NGOs face gruesome interrogations

By Damas Kanyabwoya,The Citizen Reporter

Dar es Salaam. Are you a government employee travelling abroad for a holiday or other personal business? Get prepared to show evidence to immigration officials that your trip is not funded in anyway by the state.

Observation at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) has shown that public servants who leave the country through the airport for personal business or through sponsorship by NGOs face gruesome interrogations and those who fail to produce proof that they are spending their own money on their trips are stopped from leaving the country.

A senior official from the Bank of Tanzania who said he was travelling outside the country on holiday using his own funds missed his flight on Sunday because he did not have documents that proved that his trip was not funded by the government.

Immigration officials told him that he was also supposed to have a permission letter allowing him to travel abroad from his employer, the BoT official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, toldThe Citizen.

“Immigration officials took me to a separate room and interrogated me for a very long time, asking me who was funding my trip and why I did not have official permission from my bosses. They said, I cannot leave the country until I come with evidence to show that I am using my own money for the trip and that I have been permitted to go outside the country,” the BoT official told The Citizen at the JNIA.

One of the immigration officials who interrogated him but refused to give his name on grounds that he was not the spokesperson of the department said, the measure was part of government efforts to curb foreign travel and fight corruption.

“He could be running away from the corruption crackdown currently underway. We really need proof that his trip has official blessings,” said the official. “No government employee can leave the country without proper documents. That is an order from above.”

Since he took office in early November, President John Magufuli has banned all unnecessary foreign travel by government officials. He has also waged a war on embezzlement and corruption, sacking and taking to court government officials who have caused losses to the government due to negligence and corruption.

A journalist working with TBC, who was also travelling overseas through a sponsorship by an NGO, passed through the immigration gates successfully on Sunday because he was well prepared. He, however, endured several minutes of interrogation in a separate room.

The journalist, who also requested anonymity, said they wanted him to produce an invitation letter to wherever he was going that showed that the said organisation was funding his trip. He also had to show a permission letter from the Chief Secretary.

“I am lucky because my bosses had already given me a permission letter which they told me to take to the Treasury. The Treasury gave me a special form that acknowledged that they were not funding the trip and I took the form to the Chief Secretary where I was given the permission letter,” the journalist said.

Employees from the private sector and NGOs are also required to produce IDs that indicate that they are not government employees before they can be allowed to pass through the immigration gates at the JNIA.

The BoT official who missed his flight blamed the airport immigration officials for their stance on the issue, saying he doubted whether what he described as harassment of government officials was an order from above.

“I know these people. They are just creating conditions for corruption. Had I given them money, I know they would have let me pass. But they cannot intimidate me,” the BoT official noted.

Yesterday, the Commissioner General of Immigration Services Sylvester Ambokile could not deny or confirm the developments directly.

“If the President has issued a directive what else do you want us to do? Those who are touched by that arrangement know what they are supposed to do. So, there is no problem if people are asked to support their trips with evidence,” he said.