PRESIDENT John Magufuli has directed the Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB) to relocate its head offices from Dar es Salaam to Lake Zone regions where the majority farmers of the ‘white gold’ are situated.
In a related development, Dr Magufuli
said he will sack officials of the board should he find out that they
have supplied unproductive cotton seeds to farmers. The president issued
the instructions in Geita Township yesterday during his ongoing tour of
four regions namely Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga and Geita which
kicked-off over the weekend.
He expressed concern that the cotton
board was based in the commercial city of Dar es Salaam and yet the
majority of cotton farmers are found in Lake Zone regions of Geita,
Mwanza, Shinyanga, Mara, Simiyu and Kagera.
President Magufuli reasoned that the
relocation to the cotton growing areas will enable the board to be close
to the farmers and address their challenges. Dr Magufuli challenged the
board to justify its existence by improving the production and
marketing of cotton insisting he would like to one day see Tanzania
putting on their own outfits made from home-grown cotton.
“Let me put this very clear. I am
irritated seeing massive importation of second-hand clothes; and I am
looking forward to seeing Tanzania exporting used garments from the new
locally manufactured clothes,” the president enthused.
He was also irritated with the fact that
Tanzania has vast potential in hides and skins but keeps on importing
shoes while the products could be produced locally as well. Dr Magufuli
called on all Tanzanians to work hard to achieve the goal of attaining
an industrialised nation in the near future.
He emphasized on full utilisation of the
economic potential in Geita Region and the entire Lake Zone, saying he
wanted to see cotton and coffee regaining their places to boost the
economy. President Magufuli assured Geita residents that the government
will keep all the pledges on a number of projects including upgrading
roads to tarmac, improved water supply and many others.
However, he said all those initiatives
would be fruitless if Tanzanians will entertain politics instead of
serious work asking for politicians to support his agenda towards work
spirit. At a public rally in Geita, Dr Magufuli as well directed the
Ministry of Energy and Minerals and the National Environmental
Management Council (NEMC) to make sure wastes produced from gold are
distributed to the youths as part of income generating activities to
them.
The president’s move was in response to
an outcry by the youth here, who for many years have pressurised Geita
Gold Mine (GGM) to give them the stones that are thrown away as soon as
gold processing is over.
In his address to Geita residents
yesterday, Dr Magufuli issued a three-week ultimatum for the matter to
be solved, calling for the exercise to be conducted peacefully.“I have
decided to act on your long-time request and would like to see you
benefiting from the mining activities here. Now you have to assure me
that the distribution of these stones is done peacefully; otherwise I
will withdraw my decision,” he said.
Meanwhile, during a public rally at
Kahama in Shinyanga Region, Dr Magufuli challenged former Kahama MP, Mr
James Lembeli, to return to CCM, noting that the veteran politician had
lost track in the opposition. Mr Lembeli is among a number of CCM
bigwigs who defected to CHADEMA ahead of the general election last year.
“I want this to be known to people of
Kahama that Mr Lembeli is a long time friend of mine and I expect him to
rethink his decision.
“He should return to CCM since where he
is now is where corrupt people he used to blast are holed up,” Dr
Magufuli noted. For his part, Mr Lembeli said he had decided to cross
over to CHADEMA from CCM due to what he described as rampant corruption
and hypocrisy within the ruling party.
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