Regions tasked to allocate more to development

DAILY NEWS Reporter

THE Parliamentary Committee on Administration and Local Governments has tasked regional authorities to allocate more funds to development rather than Other Charges (OCs) as it has been the case.

During a scrutiny of Tanga Region’s audited financial accounts for 2014/2015 in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the committee noted with concerns that reviews on most regions showed that they allocated more funds to regular spending.

“It is high time that regional authorities allocate more funds to provide better services to the people. Our people need quality health services and education, better roads and access to safe and clean water,” the Chairperson of the committee, Dr Pudenciana Kiwembe (Kavuu-CCM), urged.

The directive by the parliamentary team falls in line with instructions by President John Magufuli to Permanent Secretaries last week that they should make savings on funds allocated to government ministries and channel the same to development projects.

For his part, Deputy Minister of State in President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments), Mr Suleiman Jaffo, said the government will ensure local government authorities allocate additional funds to serve the people.

The Deputy Minister stressed that the government will see into it that the authorities collect more funds to be used to improve social services