Why national leaders have obligation to visit rural areas

Written by ANNE ROBI

CCM Secretary General Abdulrahman Kinana addresses wananchi at one of his recent meetings. (File photo)

THE recent official tour of the CCM Secretary General Mr Abdulrahman Kinana to upcountry regions has been inspirational to most people some of whom were beginning to lose trust in their government.

According to Dodoma Regional CCM  Chairman Adam Kimbisa, many residents were eager to see that leaders came forward to help them solve various development problems in their communities.

“Mr Kinana has in one way or another helped to solve some of the challenges.

He has summoned leaders to explain why certain projects were not implemented and issued directives that some actions needed to be taken immediately,” said Mr Kimbisa as he bid farewell to the CCM leader at the end of his nine-day tour aimed at inspecting development projects in accordance with the 2010 CCM Manifesto.

Mr Kinana found out that many challenges stemmed from irresponsibility and unethical behaviour on the part of the leaders which resulted in a failure to carry out their duties.

Some of the challenges encountered during the tour include; land disputes between farmers and pastoralists,water scarcity and poor implementation of public development projects.

While in the regions, Mr Kinana received many complaints from the public and municipal leaders complaining about government leaders’ failure to intervene and help them solve the challenges they are facing.

One of the biggest challenges was the land dispute that had lasted for many years in Kongwa District that borders Kiteto District in Manyara Region. Kiteto is the epicentre of land disputes.

The district borders Kilindi in Tanga, Gairo in Morogoro, Simanjiro in Manyara, Monduli in Arusha and Kongwa in Dodoma. When he arrived in Kongwa District, ‘wananchi’ bitterly complained over government’s failure to solve the disputes, saying farmers and pastoralists have been involved in endless fights, resulting is deaths and loss of properties.

Mr Kinana encountered a similar situation in Chemba District where the residents complained of rangers at the natural forest reserve, saying those living in the surrounding areas were being harassed. He directed that government leaders should take action immediately.

Thereafter, various leaders led by the Minister for Lands Housing and Human settlement Mr William Lukuvi arrived in the region, convening various meetings and charting ways in order to come up with decisions to end the disputes.

The regional commissioners in Tanga, Manyara, Morogoro and Dodoma also held meetings with government leaders, local leaders alongside land experts mainly to chart ways of forming a long-term strategies to end the conflicts. Mr Kinana directed the government to ensure water development projects are implemented immediately.

In Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions Mr Kinana blamed opposition leaders whom he also accused of failure to resolve issues that hampered development In Karatu District, Arusha Region, Mr Kinana received complaints from the residents accusing municipal leaders (mainly Chadema members) of misusing public funds set aside for development projects.

Speaking at rallies officiated by Mr Kinana, the residents said the municipalities whose leaders are mostly from the opposition party Chadema, have failed to implement many projects in villages and wards manned by CCM.

They pointed out the construction of a surgical wards at Baray Village, Mbuga Nyekundu Ward in the District as among the projects that have been abandoned despite having been funded by the government.

The residents told Mr Kinana that the building has not been completed after the Chairman of the Municipality blocked 60m/- set aside by the government. Apart from abandoning the project, the leaders also voted against connecting the village and the health centre to electricity by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).

They were also accused of squandering public funds set to facilitate the construction of an irrigation scheme project at Mang’ola village. According to the report presented to Mr Kinana, the project hasnot been implemnted as planned.

The leaders are also accused of illegally selling 35.4 hectares of land owned by locals to Tanganyika Wildlife Camps Company for 70.8m/-.

“When we (residents) filed the case at the court, the municipal chairman came out to defend the so- called investor,” notes part of the report presented to Mr Kinana. In another development, residents of Mlabee village, Ganako ward complained about the failure of their leaders citing the selling of a catchment area thus preventing residents from accessing water.

“Please sympathise with us the residents of Ganako, we do not have any other source of water, we walk over 10 kilometres searching for water,” says one of the residents. Responding, the CCM SC condemned the leaders in the municipality for their misdeeds promising government commitment to ensure equal distribution of public resources to all citizens in the country.

“What Chadema leaders are doing is unacceptable, blocking funds set to help every Tanzanian and giving it to a particular people on grounds of political affiliation is an offence,” he said, wondering what would happen to CCM supporters if Chadema happens to lead the nation.

“As the ruling party, our aim is to ensure fairness to all the people in the nation regardless of our political affiliations or any other rapport, we shall not allow such negligence to Tanzanians as long we (CCM) lead the nation,” he says.

Apart from Karatu, Mr Kinana also meant similar complaints from residents in Rombo District in Kilimanjaro region, blaming the Member of Parliament, Mr Joseph Selasini (Chadema- Rombo Constituency) for mobilising and opposing implementation of public development projects.

He was accused for mobilising his supporters to oppose the implementation of electricity connection at the Constituency, implementation of road projects among others.

However, Mr Kinana firmly opposed condoning the MP for misleading the public towards their community development and vowed to all the projects lined up in the Constituency and implemented as planned for the citizens’ well-being and the nation at large. “His calculated moves aim at frustrating the government’s efforts to implement development projects.

I want to assure you that we will ensure the projects are implemented as planned,” he said amid cheers from the residents. The CCM leader also dealt with complaints from the residents of Moshi who blamed the city mayor, director and councillors for their failure to reconstruct the market in time after removing the traders from the city market.

“We were told to vacate the market to pave the way for reconstruction since March 2014, but nothing has been done,” said one of the residents of Moshi City Town, appealing for government intervention through the CCM leader. Responding, the Mr Kinana directed the Regional Commissioner to ensure the market is renovated as soon as possible in order to allow the residents resume their business.

He told the RC to ensure responsible leaders in the municipality are held responsible and the market to put into operation immediately. Few Days, the market was renovated following the directives and the residents resumed their business.

According to the RC, the market was abruptly closed down by the City Mayor under the directives of the Moshi Urban MP sending away businesspeople on the grounds of renovating it. “Since last year, nothing has been done despite having requested the leaders of Moshi Municipality to renovate the market,” says the RC Mr Leonidas Gama.

Commenting on the Kinana’s tours, many people acknowledged the tours calling for other top government leaders to do the same in order to ensure responsibility ethical conducts among the Minister and other public leaders in the country.

“The tours should be encouraged especially to top leaders, and even the Vice President, Prime Minister in order to ensure the responsible ministers and other leaders carry out their roles,” says a Ward Executive Officer at Kwadelo Ward, Dodoma Region.

On the other hand, the CCM Chairman in Arusha Region, said the tours should be encouraged as they help establish the challenges tormenting people and expose irresponsible leaders in government and the party.

“The tours not only unearth government leaders’ weaknesses but also help the party and the public in general in choosing and appointing good leaders in future,” he says.