THE government has issued 14 days ultimatum to the offices of the Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB) to move to Mwanza as directed by President John Magufuli, short of which its officers should resign for failing to abide by the decree.
Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and
Fisheries, Dr Charles Tizeba, sounded the last warning here on Tuesday
upon realising that the board’s top executives were still in Dar es
Salaam despite being ordered to move to the Lake Victoria City and
cotton growing zone.
“This is a presidential directive for
you to move from Dar es Salaam. I now give you 14 days to relocate to
Mwanza or else you submit your resignation letters,” said Minister
Tizeba.
The new development comes following
President Magufuli’s order to TCB to relocate from Dar es Salaam to make
sure its stakeholders including farmers are closely served.
He gave the directives in August this
year when he was on official tour of the Lake Zone regions where he
expressed concern on the fact 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.
However, the former Acting TCB Executive
Director Mr Gabriel Mwalo presented his defence to the Minister when
asked to explain why the Board had not relocated to date, saying that
the exercise had delayed due to lack of resources, among others.
Mr Mwalo said there were many issues
that needed to be considered before implementing the directive, adding
that at least 400m/- was required to facilitate the move.
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