Ludovick utouh biography of donald
On the road to accountability in Tanzania
Frustrations lead to new beginnings
“It was clear to me that there was a need for such an institution in Tanzania,” says Ludovick Utouh, founder and executive director of the think tank WAJIBU – Institute of Public Accountability. Amongst others, WAJIBU informs and mobilizes public opinion about accountability in the collection and use of public resources by duty bearers and elected officials.
Before Utouh founded WAJIBU, he worked as the Controller Auditor General (CAG) of the government of Tanzania. The office of the CAG is responsible for overseeing all public expenditure of the government and providing annual audit reports. Under Utouh’s watch, Parliament had begun to publicly debate these reports to improve the government’s accountability in the use of public resources.
“While I was CAG, I was able to modernize the audit functions in the country. But it was also very frustrating whenever I saw that nothing came from my recommendations,” Utouh sighs. “At times my recommendations would be picked up by the media, but their reports never triggered any real pressure from the public on the duty bearers to act. The public’s understanding of good governance was too limited.”
“I soon realized that unless issues around accountability were people centered, real government accountability would remain a pipe dream. But for people to demand accountability, they needed to be better informed. This pushed me to establish WAJIBU after I retired, which I did together with Yona Killagane, the retired managing director of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC).”
Utouh and Killagane discussed the gap WAJIBU could fill in government and civil society. While there were already NGOs tracking public expenditures of lower level government, they noticed that no NGO was working on accountability at national level. That’s where WAJIBU stepped in.
Report highlights in the public interest
With a staff of sev Ludovick Utouh, the fifth Controller and Auditor General in post-independence Tanganyika/Tanzania, officially retires today. The Citizen Business Editor, Samuel Kamndaya, spoke to him about his best and worst days as CAG for eight years. Read on: QUESTION: Who is Ludovick Utouh? A: I was born in Rombo, Kilimanjaro Region, about 65 years ago. Before becoming CAG in 2006, I was the NBAA (the National Board of Accountants and Auditors) executive director but before that, I was the board’s registrar between 1987 and 1995. Prior to joining NBAA, I was a senior lecturer at the Institute of Development and Management (IDM) which is now known as Mzumbe University. Academically, I have schooled in Tanzania, Canada, UK and Swaziland. What kind of family life do you live? I am a married man and a father of four children. The first-born is a lady while the other three are gentlemen. They are all grown people. How do you spend your leisure time? With such a challenging post, I do not really have time for leisure. I love football but I find no reason why a young man in Tanzania should be a typical fan of English football. I am, however, a classic fan of the Dar es Salaam Young Africans (Yanga). Now as you retire, what would you say are your major achievements and challenges as the fifth CAG of independent Tanganyika/Tanzania? It should be recalled that after President Jakaya Kikwete appointed me to be the fifth CAG, I was sworn-in on 19th August 2006. A welcoming party was organised in my honour at the Sheraton (now Serena) Hotel and the distinguished guest was the then chief secretary, Mr Philemon Luhanjo. In his remarks, Mr Luhanjo highlighted three challenges for the CAG’s office. He said there was little public awareness regarding the office and what it does. Secondly, there was no unity among officers working under the CAG’s office and thirdly, he said reports published by t Dar es Salaam. The former Controller and Auditor General (CAG), Mr Ludovick Utouh, is back in the limelight after a long sabbatical, announcing yesterday the establishment of a private platform to campaign for public finance accountability in the country. Mr Utouh, who made a name for himself as a strong-willed CAG during his eight-year tenure before his retirement on September 18, 2014, said he wanted to play his part in a new Tanzania by deploying his knowledge and wealth of experience in the area of public finance accountability outside the government. The former CAG has teamed up with a number of retired top public servants to launch what they have dubbed Wajibu Institute of Public Accountability (WIPA) that will work to promote public accountability and good governance in the country. The institute, which has been co-founded by Mr Utouh and former director general of the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), Mr Yona Kilaghane, will spearhead accountability and good governance pillars by being the country’s first ever think-tank on transparency, accountability and good governance. “Citizens speak of mounting disillusionment with government, based on their concerns about corruption, lack of responsiveness to the needs of the poor and the absence of a sense of connection with elected representatives and bureaucrats,” he said. He said Tanzania is one of the few counties in the world that doesn’t have sufficient private oversight think-tank institutions in place aimed at balancing between advocacy and objectivity of oversight institutions within the country. He said privately established think-tank institutions are crucial in manifesting and scrutinising the existing practices of accountability and good governance. Some of the key activities that the entity will be working on include monitoring and popularising public accountability while aiming at developing index for all level .Utouh reveals how EPA, Jairo took heavy toll on him as CAG
Ex-CAG sets up platform for public accountability