Govt to increase defence budget, affirms Kikwete

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Jakaya Kikwete, accompanied by the son of the Father of Nation Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Makongoro (left), Zanaki Chief Edward Wanzagi (second left) and Navy commander Maj Gen Rogasian Laswai (second right) after the commissioning of two navy patrol ships at the Navy Military Base in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam, yesterday. PHOTO | ANTHONY SIAME 

By Athuman Mtulya,The Citizen Reporter

In Summary

• The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces says there is no alternative when comes to protecting our territorial sovereignty

Dar es Salaam. President Jakaya Kikwete has said that the government will keep on increasing defence budget since there is no substitute to it in defending the country’s territorial sovereignty.

The commander-in-chief of the armed forces made the commitment yesterday during the ...
commissioning ceremony of two state-of-art patrol ships at the naval command headquarters, in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam.

The two vessels, P77 Mwitongo and P78 Msoga named after the home villages of the first President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and the incumbent President Kikwete respectively, are the largest of the entire naval fleet. The ships were built by one of the China’s biggest military equipment manufacturers, Poly Technologies.

“They are very expensive, but there is no alternative, protecting our territorial sovereignty is a costly endeavour. This is only the beginning, we have plans to bring in even bigger ships, and now the remaining part is mobilizing funds,” said President Kikwete.

He said with the ships, the country will be in a better position to combat illegal fishing in the high seas, piracy, and protect deep sea gas and oil exploration instalments.

“There are big ships from developed countries, which are stealing lucrative fishes like tuna in our waters. In the recent past we had 28 piracy incidents in our waters and in five accounts the pirates hijacked the ships. They even attacked an exploration ship but our soldiers managed to apprehend them…but with these two ships we can now confidently and quickly intervene in all those threats,” he said.

President Kikwete said his government laid a strong foundation for modernizing the armed forces and he was optimistic that his successors will do even better.

He also commended the government of China for being a supportive partner in empowering Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) since its inception in 1964.