REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DAR ES SALAAM -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday sacked 9,932 public servants found with fake academic certificates after verification of their academic qualifications.

The President sacked the public servants shortly after he had received a report on public servants' verification of their academic qualifications.

He ordered that April salaries for the 9,932 sacked servants should be withheld.

Magufuli directed Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa that posts which were held by the 9,000-plus unqualified public servants should be advertised immediately.

"They are thieves like any other thieves. You cannot perform if you don't have deserving academic qualifications," fumed President Magufuli.

The President ordered that other civil servants whose certificates have been found with discrepancies should be prosecuted in courts of law.

He said the crackdown on fake academic certificates for public servants will complement an earlier exercise by the government to identify phantom employees.

President Magufuli said the government was losing about 10 million US dollars monthly to phantom workers.

In May last year Tanzania removed more than 10,000 phantom public servants from its public sector payroll after a nationwide audit found their fraud cost the government over 2.74 million US dollars.

Magufuli ordered the national audit for public servants in March last year as part of a wider corruption crackdown.

Angellah Kairuki, the Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Public Service and Good Governance, said the verification of academic certificates involved 435,000 public servants. 

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