Information ministry impresses parliamentarians

From DAILY NEWS Reporter in Dodoma

MINISTRY of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports has been applauded for initiating ‘Patriotism, My Country First’ campaign, which the Parliamentary Social Development and Services Committee said was crucial for the country to attain real development.

Briefing journalists after a day-long session to receive a report on the performance of the ministry from July to December, last year, the acting Committee Chairperson, Dr Jasmine Tisekwa, said the legislators were pleased by the strides being made by the ministry despite facing few challenges.
“We were specifically pleased with the campaign which is aiming at bringing back patriotism and nationalism spirit among Tanzanians ... the committee felt that it was important forTanzanians to be loyal and patriotic to their country by contributing in various development activities,” she said.
The campaign, which President John Magufuli officially launched in Dodoma, last year, intends to bring back previous patriotism spirit among Tanzanians in respect to public properties, fear of corrupt practices, religious, ethnic, zonal and ideological divisions.
She said what the fifth phase government is trying to do is to revive the long time lost nationalism and patriotism spirits. Ms Tisekwa further said the committee was also pleased by the ministry’s response in resolving arising matters from the past meetings with the committee, saying the ministry has continued to improve the performance of information sector.
Dr Tisekwa said the ministry was making good strides in promoting press freedom. The committee, she said, was also impressed by production of high quality programmes on the State owned Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) and reports by State owned Tanzania Standard (Newspapers) Limited (TSN).