Summary
·
Zitto also
raised the issue of an investment decision by ZSSF, saying it threatens to lose
the funds of the members.
·
He called
on the CAG of Zanzibar to conduct a special audit of all investments made by
the fund.
Dar es Salaam. The leader of the ACT Wazalendo, Zitto Kabwe has raised three key issue that he said are hindering the economy of the islands and wants the authorities to investigate them.
He named the issues as poor
efficiency in the operation of the Port of Zanzibar, the violation of the
competition law in the operation of the Amani Abeid Karume Airport and
investment decisions in the Zanzibar Social Security Fund (ZSSF).
Kabwe was addressing thousands of
ACT-Wazalendo supporters who were gathered at a public rally in Nungwi
Zanzibar, the rally was the first since the ban on political rallies was
lifted.
"The pillars of Zanzibar's
economy are the port and the airport, because two-thirds of the economy depends
on trade and tourism. In the absence of efficiency in these areas, the cost of
living for the people of Zanzibar must go up," he said.
According to Kabwe, at Zanzibar port
a 40-foot container is charged $7,000, while in other areas it is $2,000 and
$1,500 on Tanzania Mainland
This he said has forced business
people to shift to other ports as a result making the cost of living shoot up.
Apart from the operational
challenges, Zitto expressed surprise at the lack of investment in the port for
60 years.
"We are calling on the
President of Zanzibar (Dr. Hussein Mwinyi), if it really hurts him, to dissolve
the board of the Port of Zanzibar, remove the management and find Zanzibari
people capable of running it according to their environment," he said.
However, he also spoke of rumors
that the port is expected to be leased to the UAE instead of being improved as
promised by CCM.
He then touched on the challenge in
the operation of the Abeid Karume Airport, saying it is surprising that an
investor from Dubai exclusive rights to run the newly built Terminal 3 building
at the cost of the previous local investors
Read: ZAA tells airlines to either
join Dnata or leave Terminal 3
As a result he said some 2000 jobs
for the Zanzibari people has been lost. According to him it is not that their
party is against competition, instead, they want an equal playing field for
both local and foreign investors.
"The laws of the United
Republic do not allow one company to have a monopoly in one business area, the
Zanzibar Airport Authority has exercised monopoly against the law," he
said.
Ground handling laws as enacted by
TCAA prevents any airport to have a single hound handler, prevents monopoly and
prevents restriction of terminals.
The out spoken politician also
raised the issue of an investment decision by ZSSF, saying it threatens to lose
the funds of the members.
Read: Mwinyi suspends ZSSF boss over
office abuse claims
"Currently, Zanzibar has one
social security fund, but the investment decisions that are made are
surprising. The projects that are being carried out, you would think that there
is no board of trustees... if you are not careful these young people who are
contributing today, after they reach the age of Mzee (Juma) Duni, there will be
no pension to pay them," he said.
He called on the CAG of Zanzibar to
conduct a special audit of all investments made by the fund.
He gave an example of the investment
made between ZSSF and CCM that even its members do not contribute to the fund,
instead contribute to NSSF.
"ZSSF has entered into a
partnership with CCM to for a project, an entity that is not a member of this
fund what if they run away with money? These are the things we want the CAG to
audit, but we want the fund's regulator (the Central Bank of Tanzania) to look
at the fund's investment policies to protect its members' funds," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment