The Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government Authorities – PO-RALG), Mohamed Mchengerwa, tables his ministry’s budget in Parliament in Dodoma on April 16, 2024. PHOTO | MERCIFUL MUNUO
What you need to know:
Dodoma. The Ministry of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government Authorities – PO-RALG) will spend a total of Sh10.1 trillion during the coming fiscal year, with the lion’s share of it going to salaries.
Requesting the Parliament to endorse the aforementioned budget yesterday, the Minister of State in the President’s Office, Mr Mohamed Mchengerwa, said out of the money, Sh6.71 trillion will be recurrent expenditure, while the remaining Sh3.415 trillion will be channelled towards development purposes.
“Out of the Sh3.41 trillion that’s budgeted for development expenditure, Sh2.26 trillion will be sourced internally, while the remaining Sh1.15 trillion will come from foreign sources,” Mr Mchengerwa told the Parliament yesterday.Among the development projects to be implemented during the coming financial year at the district level are the construction and completion (of the ongoing construction projects) of a total of 132 health centres, 289 dispensaries and 21 hospitals, among others.
In the education sector, which also partly falls under the PO-RALG, the development funds will be channelled towards the construction and completion (of the ongoing construction projects) of a total of 2,871 classrooms, 203 science labs for secondary schools and 88 for primary schools.
A total of 24 hostels, 48 teachers’ offices, and six libraries, among others, will also be bought, along with 47,192 desks, 40,585 tables and 60 beds.
Police posts at ward level, new marketplaces, and patrol boats are also among the various products that will be bought using development funds from the docket.
Apart from purchasing 19 heavy-duty vehicles for road maintenance and garbage collection, the development funds under the ministry will also be spent on buying five tractors, 66 vehicles, and 56 motorbikes for workers in rural areas.
Rural roads
The government plans to spend a total of Sh841.19 billion during the coming fiscal year on the construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation of road infrastructure and transportation in both rural and urban areas, Mr Mchengerwa said.
Out of these funds, Sh257.03 billion comes from the Road Fund and Sh127.50 billion from the General Government Fund. Sh325.77 billion will be sourced from the Sh100 on every litre of diesel and petrol levy.
One of the sources of revenue is the ailing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which faces an acute shortage of buses.
The Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit Agency, which manages the BRT project, will have to remit Sh4.03 billion to the PORALG in 2024/25. The remaining Sh126.85 billion is to be collected from foreign sources.
Though only Sh21 billion was allocated for Tarura’s emergency works, Mr Mchengerwa said that by March 2024, a total of Sh50.43 billion had been received.
“This is equivalent to 240.14 percent and things had to be that way due to the increased emergencies caused by heavy rainfall,” he said.
Implemented activities include repairing roads covering a length of 129.13 kilometres, constructing 20 bridges, building 95 culverts, constructing drainage channels spanning 6,260 metres to drain water from roads, and placing gravel in areas where roads were washed away to restore connectivity for citizens.
Additionally, we extend our gratitude to the President for continually allocating funds to restore rural and urban roads affected by this season's rainfall.
Preps for local government elections in full gear
Preparations for this year’s local government elections started last year, with the government allocating Sh12 billion to PO-RALG for the purpose.
And, according to Mr Mchengerwa, by March 2024, the ministry had received Sh5.6 billion for the purpose.
“The majority of the funds that are yet to be received are allocated for procurement activities, the procedures of which are ongoing,” he said.
Some of the activities that have been implemented with the received funds include the verification of administrative areas participating in the 2024 local government elections, the preparation of the Draft Government Notice on Administrative Areas, the drafting of election regulations, and holding stakeholder meetings within the government to gather feedback for incorporation into the drafted regulations.
The draft regulations, he said, will be reviewed by external stakeholders to obtain their input before approval and implementation.
“We analysed election equipment needs (ballot boxes, ink, voter registration registers, copies of regulations, a list of administrative areas participating in the election, seals, ink, and stamps)… Furthermore, drafts of the Voter Education Guide and Election Guide have been prepared,” he said.
With the preparations in full gear, Mr Mchengerwa is now seeking approval from the Parliament to approve an additional Sh17.79 billion in the 2024/25 fiscal year for coordinating and overseeing the 2024 Local Government Elections.
Billions of shillings from carbon credit earnings
To address the impacts of climate change globally, the United Nations established the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, requiring developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five percent.
One way to reduce emissions is through the establishment of carbon trading, which officially began at the local government level in Tanzania in 2018.
As of March 2024, said Mr Mchengerwa, seven councils have already generated income from this initiative, while eight are in the process of signing agreements.
By March 2024, revenue from the sale of carbon credits had reached $12.63 million (about Sh30 billion), Mr Mchengerwa said.
“These funds are derived from the sale of carbon on an area of 690,500 hectares of forests,” he said.
By March 2024, Sh1.88 billion had been received, directly benefiting approximately 6,855 farmers in 50 villages across the districts of Karagwe, Misenyi, Kyerwa, Muleba, Bukoba, and Ngara through carbon trading in agro-forestry areas.
Carbon revenue from the conservation of village forests in Tanganyika District has been utilised for various developmental and administrative activities, including the production of 1,496 desks, the construction of 52 classrooms in 16 primary schools in eight villages, the construction of 10 staff houses for health, education and administrative departments in five primary schools and four dispensaries.
Others include the construction of four village offices, six dispensaries, 128 toilet facilities, and an administrative building with furniture for Mwese Secondary School.
Additionally, loans have been provided to 32 groups comprising 386 members (Village Community Conservation Bank, VCCB), health insurance has been provided to 26,273 citizens (440 households), and food has been distributed to primary and secondary school students. Salaries have also been paid to 222 contract employees (teachers, cooks, guards, sanitation workers, and forest guards).
Disciplinary action for 225 employees
The Ministry, according to Mr Mchengerwa, took action against employees who violated laws, regulations, and procedures.
In the fiscal year 2023/24, disciplinary actions were taken against 225 employees. Among them were 13 directors, 30 department heads, 15 construction sector employees, 8 health sector employees, and 159 employees from other cadres.
During the budget debate, Members of Parliament emphatically advocated for increased funding for Tarura, citing significant infrastructure damage to roads across the country since late 2023, attributable to the heavy El Niño rainfall.
“This situation has rendered many roads impassable, especially in rural areas, resulting in difficulties for citizens in accessing various transportation services,” said the chairman of the Parliament’s Local Government Affairs Committee, Mr Dennis Londo.
On carbon trading, the committee said that for the country to benefit more from the environmental protection initiative, the government should establish a special programme in primary and secondary schools nationwide for each student starting school to plant and care for their own tree throughout their school life.
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