Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys and Financial Accountability at Grassroots in Tanzania: A Case Of Toangoma Ward in Temeke Municipal Council and Vikindu Ward in Mkuranga District Council

Abstract

Community voicing and financial accountability at the grassroots in Tanzania are engrossed in the social accountability tool called the Public Expenditure Tracking System. PETS enhances community voices through bottom-up accountability whereby individuals collectively follow up the money allocated to their communities through visiting notice boards to read financial statements and attending public meetings to influence the outcomes of financial management. Social accountability is engrossed in the voicing and participation capacities of the communities to demand for financial accountability at the grassroots. The symbiotic relationship between voicing and social accountability to demand for efficient financial accountability is embedded in the participatory theorem. A social survey was conducted among residents of Toangoma Ward in Temeke Municipality and Vikindu Ward in the Coast Region. The study employed mainly quantitative methods and data gathered was analysed using descriptive statistics to generate frequencies and percentages. It was found that voice is still relatively weak as a social accountability tool to promote effective financial accountability at the community service delivery facilities. It is thus recommended that robust efforts should be made to promote social accountability itself before resorting to the outcomes of it as in the case of financial accountability.