Tanzania National Parks is in the spotlight over irregularities in the procurement of services from two international media firms the Atlanta, US-based Cable News Network (CNN) and Jambo Publications Ltd of London.
Tanapa, as the parks authority is known, is one of several public entities found to have been riddled with massive financial irregularities in the latest audit report by Controller and Auditor General Ludovic Utouh that has booked it under specific observation.
The CAG said the procurement for advertising services from CNN and Jambo Publications did not follow official procurement procedures, adding that his office found that the Ministry of National Resources and Tourism, contrary to the requirements of the Public Procurement Act of 2004, handled all procurement processes.
The total contract sum of advertising with CNN for the year 2007/2008 amounted to $750,000. Further, Tanapa signed a new contract for $800,000 for the year 2008/09 for advertising services.
According to the Annual General Report of the Controller and Auditor General on the Financial Statements of Public Authorities and Other Bodies for the Financial Year 2007/2008, the contract was signed by the Director General of Tanzania National Parks Gerald Bigurube and (Rtd) Col Emmanuel S. Balele, board chairman at the time.
Interestingly, both contracts fail to specifically indicate the timing, duration, length and frequency per day of the advertisements contracted for.
The contracts also do not indicate week or month or any other details about what time the adverts were to be carried, or procedures to monitor whether the advertisement was aired at the right times and at the right quality.
Terms of payments are also lacking.
For instance, Tanapa made a lump sum payment of Tsh1 billion ($1 million) in October 2007 in favour of CNN. The payments were not supported by broadcasting confirmation orders or any other documents, confirming frequencies of the advertisements aired by CNN, says the report.
In the case of advertising with Jambo Publications Ltd, London, Tanapa paid a total of $272,006.45 as fees in respect of advertising services for six months from January to June, 2008 at Londons Heathrow Airport.
Advertisements on Terminal Four were paid for at $68,373.23 and advertising services for six weeks on 100 London Buses at $203,633.20.
But in a surprising turn of events, the contract in respect of this service was not made available to the auditors for review upon demand. In addition, an invoice dated December 18, 2007 in respect of the above amount was addressed to the Tanzania Tourist Board but was paid by Tanapa. There was no evidence to suggest that the advertisement was carried out.
In my opinion, there was no value for money achieved by Tanapa for carrying such transactions, the CAG concluded.
The advertisement campaign was undertaken by the Ministry of Tourism as part of a major tourism promotion drive launched in 2007. The then tourism minister, Prof Jumanne Maghembe, announced the campaign when winding up the Tourism Bill of 2008 debate in the parliament in Dodoma last year.
In 2007, while visiting the US to attend the UN general assembly, President Jakaya Kikwete launched a Tanzania tourism promotion campaign in major American newspapers, on CNN America and billboards at international airports in America and Europe. The country planned to spend $1 million on its first ever tourism-marketing campaign in the US.
But when asked for comment on the CAGs report in relation to the queried contracts, Tanapa boss Mr Bigurube, told The EastAfrican last Thursday that the report is still being worked upon, implying that more details might be expected to emerge to clear the air.
The campaign, undertaken under the slogan of Tanzania, the Land of Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and the Serengeti, was expected to help attract one million tourists annually.Television commercials were scheduled to be aired on CNN, CNN Headline News, CNN Airport Networks as well as CNN.com with the aim of persuading more American tourists to visit the country.
The campaign was launched to coincide with another campaign in the US to attract African American investors to participate the Eighth Leon Sullivan Summit held in Tanzania mid last year.
Authorities say more investments in the accommodation and transport sectors are needed for Tanzania to attract one million tourists by 2010. This essentially means building more tourist hotels in Serengeti National Park and the northern tourist circuit of the country.
Former tourism minister Prof Maghembe had said that the media campaign, together with a simultaneous Tanzania Travel Agent Specialist Programme offered by Travel Agent University, would help the country reach this goal by this year. Tanzania receives 612,000 visitors per year.
The marketing campaign in the US is also expected to boost annual tourism earnings from $700 million to $1 billion by 2010.Tanzania allows unconditional repatriation of net profits, dividends, royalties and foreign loan repayments to foreign investors in the tourism sector, Prof Maghembe said.