JPM warns public institutions over GePG joining defiance
President John Magufuli has instructed all public institutions to get connected to the Government e-Payment Gateway (GePG) system as the country has started realising increased revenue from the Telecommunication Traffic Management System (TTMS) that was handed over to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) yesterday.
The move, among others, will increase transparency in all collections and enable the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to collect accurate revenue from all sources.
Dr Magufuli’s instructions came as a result of available data showing that only 339 out of 667 public institutions have joined the GeGP, while the government demands that all institutions be joined to the system.
Speaking at an event where TCRA received the TTMS system from contractors, Société Générale De Surveillance and Global Voice Group (SGC/GVB) of Switzerland, the President said the centralised payment system enables the government to save huge amount of money.
He said that among the public institutions that have shifted to the GePG system is the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO) that used to pay 38bn/- per annum to other service providers.
“So, the Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Phillip Mpango, must write to all institutions that haven’t joined the system; the letters should be copied to the Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa and myself for implementation,” said the President.
Dr Magufuli was of the view that all institutions that will not shift to GePG will be considered to be having bad intentions towards government’s move on tracking its revenue, by doing business in the dark.
“…And I will not understand all ministers who are supervising the institutions that are not yet connected to this system,” noted the Head of State in a note that went together with hailing the TCRA’s TTMS system as it has added another source of revenue to the government.
With TTMS, the government through the communications regulator TCRA and TRA will be able to verify revenues collected by the telecommunication companies, hence getting the accurate tax, instead of relying on reports from the respective companies.
Since the TTMS became operational, the country has managed to collect 93.665bn/-, in this case the system has created a new source of revenue that wasn’t existing in the past.
The system assures the government of what it deserves to collect because TRA has been given the access to all sources of revenues of the Telecoms, as well as reducing number of international fraudulent traffic from 60 per cent to less than 10 per cent.
“Some of the companies were under declaring their incomes, hence denying the government to collect accurate revenue, so TTMS has many benefits to the country,” said the Head of State.
TTMS has been operational since October 2013 and has already yielded tangible results like enabling the regulator to get accurate statistics on international and local communication traffic.
Earlier, the TCRA Director General Engineer James Kilaba said the system is aimed at monitoring the quality of services provided by mobile telecom companies in the country as well as controlling tax revenues.
“Through TTMS, we have been able to detect fraudulent traffic, statistics on mobile money transactions as well as the quality of services offered by telecommunication companies,” he explained.
Moreover, it has enabled TCRA to have records of all SIM card profiles and their Central Equipment Identification Register (CEIR) as well as detecting and blocking duplicate International Mobile Equipment Identification (IMEI’s).
“The system has also enabled us to issue statistics about customers’ traffic on text messages, voice call and use of data based on telecom companies they are subscribing,” added Eng Kilaba in an address that was also cemented by the Minister for Works, Transport and Communication Eng Isack Kamwelwe.
Expounding further, the Minister said, the government will continue to do anything it takes to ensure safe and low cost communication.
Present at the event, Finance and Planning Minister Dr Mpango said TTMS has been helpful to TRA officials especially on tracing volume of mobile money transfer.
“In 2018 alone, about 139.2 trillion/- were transacted through mobile money accounts. This is an addition of 35.2 per cent compared to the transactions that were recorded in the corresponding period of 2017,” said Dr Mpango.