Unpaid debts stymie Temesa

NASHON KENNEDY in Mwanza

 

THE government has issued a three-month ultimatum for government institutions, which have not paid their debts of repairing their cars to Tanzania Electrical, Mechanical and Electronics Service Agency (Temesa) to pay them immediately.

The order was issued here at the weekend by the Minister of Works, Transport and Communication, Prof Makame Mbarawa, when he was speaking to TEMESA employees at Kigongo Ferry during his official tour in Mwanza city.

TEMESA is the government agency whose function is to provide electrical, mechanical and electronic engineering services to both public and private customers, to run safe and reliable ferry services and to hire out plant and equipment.

The minister said he was prompted to issue the order after learning that TEMESA was in critical condition such that it had failed to run its activities due to lack of funds.

He said the order was also directed to offices of regional and district commissioners whose cars were repaired by the agency but they failed to pay their debts on time. Prof Mbarawa announced that come April month this year all government institutions should pay their debts to Temesa on time.

“I’m providing three months for government institutions which have failed to pay their debts after their cars were serviced to pay the debts immediately. These government institutions sometimes send their cars to private garages at higher costs and pay in cash, why should they fail to pay on time to TEMESA”, he wondered.

He urged Temesa workers across the country to work hard and ensure that they were repairing government vehicles on time. “If you fail to repair government vehicles on time, the door you used to come in is the one you will use to go out. There are many Tanzanians who are capable of doing your job”, the minister noted.

Prof Mbarawa said the government agency must adapt to the structure of its operation and the government will discontinue working with institutions whose workers do not want to change and manage public resources.

On his part, Mwanza Temesa Regional Manager Engineer Ferdinand Mishamo said TEMESA faced many challenges including that of debts of government institutions.

He said in 2014/2015 Temesa was claiming total of 411,712,952/- as debts from government institutions and a total of 173,667,234/- from other debtors.

“We’re also requesting two new cars in order to carry out our daily activities efficiently considering the fact that our region has a big network of ferries services and garage operations”, he added.