Monday, July 31, 2017

Bury the hatchet, Mbeya councillors told

SUNDAY NEWS Reporter
PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has issued a two day ultimatum to councillors in Mbeya to solve their differences and focus on service delivery or else the government will dissolve them.

The differences that have lasted for almost a year now, have led to the failure by councillors in the city to hold meetings and thus most of the development activities have failed to materialise leading to torture among residents.
The Prime Minister issued the ultimatum yesterday while addressing public servants at Kyela District Council in Mbeya Region. He is in the region for a tour. He said by tomorrow (Monday) the councillors in question must bury their hatchets and inform heads of departments so that development activities can resume.
“The full council is divided, there is misunderstanding, we want the differences to end, collaborate and unite in implementing development activities so that citizens can benefit.
If you carry on with your disputes, we won’t tolerate you; the government is capable of dissolving the council,” he warned. Premier Majaliwa pointed out that part of the councillors is defending some public officers who have been suspended over graft, an action that was intolerable.
“I want you to end your differences before I finish my tour,” he said. In another development, Mr Majaliwa tasked the PCCB (Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau – PCCB) in Mbeya Region to make sure legal measures are taken against all the suspects of embezzlement as directed by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG).
He called upon public servants to make sure they work hard, shun business as usual habit, laziness and negligence.
Meanwhile, Premier Majaliwa has launched two cargo vessels dubbed Mv Njombe and Mv Ruvuma which will be used for transport services on Lake Nyasa, warning that the two vessels should not be used to implement dubious deals such as drug or human trafficking.
He said the building of the vessels worth 11.253bn/- is the fulfilment of President John Magufuli’s promises he made during the 2015 general election, adding that the same promises were also part of CCM election manifesto.
The vessels were launched at Kiwira Port in Kyela District. He said that the government and people are proud to witness the building of two vessels by a local company, M/S Songoro Marine Transport, which is different from the former trend, whereby such works were done by foreign companies.
He called upon the residents of the area to play a bigger role in supervision and ensuring that the vessels are used for intended purposes only.
“The cargo transportation challenge in Lake Nyasa will be history now that we have these two vessels in place, that will broaden business activities with neighbouring countries of Malawi and Mozambique.
We thus thank Dr Magufuli for the promise which has been implemented,” he said.
Earlier, the Deputy Director of Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) responsible with infrastructure development, Eng Karim Mataka said the construction of the vessels started in June 2015.
He added that the vessels have the capacity of carrying 1,000 tonnes each.
He pointed out that TPA has entered a contract with M/S Songoro Marine Transport Limited for the construction of a passenger vessel with the carrying capacity of 2,000 passengers and 3,000 tonnes of cargo.
The project which is in the final stages will cost 9.12bn/-.

No comments :

Post a Comment