THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE

1. THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIANATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE A Performance Audit of the Management of Prevention and Mitigation of Floods at Central, Regional and Local Levels of the Government of Tanzania A Case Study of FLOODS IN BABATI DISTRICT A PRESENTATION AT THE SADCOPAC/EAAPAC ACCOUNTABILITY CONFERENCE HELD IN MAY 2012, WINDHOEK - NAMIBIA By ATHANAS PIUS DEPUTY AUDITOR GENERAL (DAG) National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

2. The challenge • Babati District in Manyara Region has experienced devastating floods many times. • The floods caused homes to be washed away, people drowning and displaced, impassable roads, water supply cut off, and many economic and social activities disrupted, also for the whole nation and even some neighbouring countries since Babati is a junction and crucial centre through which roads to Burundi, Rwanda, DRC Congo and Uganda pass. • Forecast changes in climate are expected to lead to an increased risk of flooding. The challenge is to prepare flood defences to protect life, property and sustain economic and social activities in accordance with Disaster Relief Coordination Act and the National Disaster Management Policy. • The performance audit report of the National Audit Office of Tanzania (NAOT) aimed at contributing to meeting such a challenge. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

3. Selection of focus area(s) for the audit • The selected areas are gauged based on the following criteria: • Relevance of the problem • Mandate • Materiality • Risk • Auditability • Potential for change National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

4. Selection criteria 1: Relevance • Mandate • within audit mandate • audit problem and not a political problem • Materiality • money involved • importance for the citizens • type of problem (structural, long term problem etc.) • Risk • of not fulfilling the three E's National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

5. Selection criteria 2 Auditability = possibility of carrying out an audit • relevant audit methods applicable • resources available (budget, transport, time) • relevant audit skills available • no evaluation of similar kind already in progress by other bodies • no major changes already decided National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

6. Selection criteria 3 Potential for change • possible solutions (excluding increased allocations of resources) • No major factors (political, financial or other) limit the potential for change National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

7. Audit Design Auditees • The audit focused on five auditees, which were responsible for disaster management as mandated by the Disaster Relief Coordination Act No. 9 of 1990. The five auditees are • Prime Minister’s Office – Disaster Management Department (PMO – DMD), • Manyara Regional Secretariat, • Babati Town Council, • Babati District Council and • TANROADS-Manyara. • Their co-operation with NGOs was also examined. • The scope of the audit focused on physical structures to prevent and mitigate floods. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

8. Methodology Method and implementation • The audit involved extensive discussions and document review in the Prime Minister’s Office – Disasters Management Department and with Manyara Regional Secretariat, Babati District Council and Babati Town Council officials. • The material obtained covered views from a variety of sources including; TANROADS Manyara and TANROADS Arusha, Arusha Regional Secretariat, BAWASA, Babati District Officers responsible for Water and Livestock Development, Works, and Natural Resources and Tourism. • Discussions were also held with the representatives from the Non-Governmental Organizations situated at Babati such as FIDE and FARM AFRICA and the common people at Babati. • Several documents were reviewed, including: • Disaster Relief Coordination Act No. 9 of 1990; • National Disaster Management Policy of May 2004; • National Operational Guidelines for Disaster Management; • Wild Lake Report; • Disaster Management & Early Warning Systems by Intermaecos; • Vulnerability Assessment Report by the PMO- Disaster Management Department; and • Land Management Program Report – BABATI by LAMP. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

9. Some Audit Findings • The major findings were as follows: National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

10. (i) Continued risks for further preventable damage from floods in Babati • We found that, the risk is very high for possible future floods to cause further damage. This is due to the overall absence of strategic disaster management planning and actions. This is inter alia manifested by: • lack of preventive and maintenance actions to address deteriorating flood prevention and mitigating structures • inappropriate location of residential areas National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

11. (ii) Regional and Local Authorities without Fundamental Preparedness • The Manyara Regional Secretariat, Babati Town and District Councils do not have fundamental preparedness in handling disasters: • There was no Regional Disaster Committee and strategic plan on how they can mobilize or solicit funds necessary for flood prevention or disasters management in general. • There was insufficient coordination by focal officers. The focal officers have not produced the required pre-disaster plan. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

12. (iii) Insufficient support from the PMO-DMD • The insufficient activities of the local government did not receive the attention of the PMO – DMD, which is by law supposed to perform an oversight function. • The Manyara Regional Secretariat and Babati Councils did not form disaster management committees in accordance with the guidelines of the PMO-DMD. • A necessary budget for DMD monitoring flood related activities has never been put into place. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

13. (iv) Inadequate town planning • The Town Planning has not been forward looking with regards to floods. Some of the residence and business activities have recently been located at low lying areas. • Plots have been located in areas, which were supposed to be reserved for water passage National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

14. (v) Inadequate maintenance of existing road structures • The Ministry of Works (MoW)/TANROADS have for 15 years not taken actions to increase the capacity of water discharge by building bigger culverts at the Kigongoni river embankment, hence there is a risk that the embankment acts like a dam and the Lake water floods through the town. • TANROADS has not attended sufficiently to the preventive structures at Kiongozi Bridge alongthe Minjingu – Dodoma trunk road. The trunk road was cut off during the floods of 1998 and the gabions were severely damaged. • The rehabilitation of the gabions was not undertaken until 2005. Seven years lapsed before TANROADS and the Ministry of Works took any action. That is a long time considering the (inter)national importance of the trunk road. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

15. General Conclusion • Our general conclusion is that the actions, and lack of action, of the concerned authorities at local, regional, and national level regarding flood preparedness do not score well in terms of these indicators of good governance. • In spite of experiences from previous floods, the Disaster Management Department at the Prime Minister’s Office, the regional and local authorities seem not prepared for another flood but rather react after floods have occurred. There are no continuous risk assessments and plans to mitigate such floods. • The lack of actions for many years in prevention and mitigation of the Babati floods portrays negligence by the accountable authorities. Our conclusion should be seen against the fact that the desired preventive actions do not require any heavy investments. • Lack of resources cannot in this case be used as an excuse or reason for not taking appropriate action to maintain, rehabilitate and improve flood defences. The changes in rainfall pattern calls for urgent improvements in flood preparedness by all concerned MDAs. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

16. Pre-disaster planning and funds for flood management To Manyara Region and Babati Councils • The regional and district authorities should include disaster/flood management expenditure projections in their annual budgets. • The regional and district authorities should ensure that civil society and focal officers at respective levels play their roles in anti-flood programmes. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

17. Design of the rehabilitation of the Arusha – Dodoma trunk road To TANROADS • The experiences from previous floods should be communicated sufficiently to the consultancy firm that is doing the design for the rehabilitation of the Dodoma – Babati road and the Singida – Babati – Minjingu road. • The aim should be ascertain that hydrological calculations regarding the run-off from the watershed areas surrounding the sensitive discharge points of Kigongoni Outlet and Kiongozi Bridge take past flood events into account. Consider a less erosion prone site for the Kiongozi bridge. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

18. Training, action plans and the role of PMO-DMD To PMO-DMD • The PMO-DMD should play its monitoring role to ensure that training given to Local Authorities generate plans or Anti-Flood Programs. • PMO-DMD should develop a proactive working strategy regarding floods within in order to facilitate quick release funds in cases of floods. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

19. Training, action plans …. (Contd) • In line with the obligations of PMO-DMD in the Disaster Relief Coordination Act, 1990, and the National Operational Guidelines for Disaster Management (NOG) (first edition-2003), PMO-DMD should use its powers to carry out or coordinate research relevant to floods, formulate flood prevention plans, review regularly and coordinate flood prevention measures. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

20. Training, action plans …. (Contd) • The PMO-DMD should soonest develop a register of floods in Tanzania, where floods are systematically recorded and conduct proactive analyses of flood risks for flood prone and economically important areas. • Such a register would be the base for developing a strategic preventive approach regarding floods. Disaster Management Department should get its preparedness priorities for floods for the nation as a whole in place. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

21. How the report was received by Media • Electronic and printed media had a wide coverage of the flood report after it was tabled in Parliament. • The following media reported extensively: • 4 television channels • 10 Swahili newspapers • 8 English newspapers • 5 radio stations National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

22. How the report was received by Media Some of the printed media wrote long articles with headings like.. • ”New report exposes weaknesses in national disaster management” (ThisDay,9.7.07) • ”Idara ya maafa imezembea”(The Department of Disaster Management has been negligent), Kulikoni, 9.7.07 • ‘When floods hit Babati Bujumbura, Kigali and Masaka tremble’(ThisDay, 07.10.25) National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

23. How was the report received by the Auditees? • The Manyara Region received our report very well. Directly after the Exit meeting, in a letter to the NAOT, the region and the Babati district and town council outlined actions to be taken. A Disaster Management Committee was formed and implementation of some of our recommendations started before tabling in Parliament. • The PMO-DMD agreed in general with our recommendations. The Head of DMD and two experts visited Babati in January 2008. • TANROADS communicated our report to the road consultancy firm, which redesigned the Kiongozi bridge. TANROAD also decided to prioritise construction of large box culverts at Kigongoni outlet. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

24. REACTIONS SO FAR FROM PARLIAMENT • The Local Authorities Accounts Committee (LAAC) decided to follow-up on our report through a site visit to Babati in January, 2008. A field visit to flood sites and a meeting with the regional disaster management committee were held. NAOT was invited to brief the committee. National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI

25. Ahsanteni Sana NAOT National Audit Office, FLOODS IN BABATI