Govt to pay contractors, suppliers’ arrears

FLORENCE MUGARULA in Dodoma

PRIME Minister, Kassim Majaliwa yesterday assured all suppliers and contractors across the country that the government will soon start paying them after completing the arrears verification exercise.

The Premier said the verification that ends today will give a wider picture on who deserve to be paid. Mr Majaliwa was responding to Morogoro Southern-East MP (CCM), Mr Omar Mgumba, who wanted to know when the government will pay arrears to suppliers and contractors.

He said that it has been long since the government halted payment on the grounds of conducting verification exercise and that many suppliers and contractors are required to pay loans to various financial institutions.

The MP wanted the government to state categorically when the suppliers and contractors will be paid so that they can settle debts issues to respective financial institutions and continue with other economic activities as usual.

Mr Mgumba also wanted the Prime Minister to elaborate on who is going to carry the burden of amounting loan interest after the suppliers and contractors failed to pay their loans to the financial institutions on time.

“I would like to know how the government is going to assist these suppliers to repay their loans,” he said. The Premier said it was necessary for the government to conduct verification exercise because some of the suppliers and contractors submitted wrong documents aiming at getting more payments from the government.

“There is no doubt that some suppliers and contractors were trying to forge documents to con the government, this forced us to conduct a verification exercise so that we can understand the real situation on the ground,” he said.

However, the Premier said the report on the verification exercise is set to be submitted on June 30, this year (today) to the Ministry of Finance and Planning. He said after reviewing the report, the Ministry will start paying suppliers and contractors.

“This is an official statement from the government that all verified debts will be paid accordingly, we are asking all suppliers and contractors to bear with us and be patient as we set things clear,” he said.

The Premier added that he had already met some of the suppliers and contractors in Dodoma to discuss the matter and that they understand the reasons behind the delay in their payments.

“I have already met some of these suppliers and contractors. We discussed the situation on the ground and they understood why the government delayed their payments, we are therefore working hard to resolve this mat