Minister tables 10.125tr/- budget, Local Govt elections given priority

Esther Takwa

Mohammed Mchengerwa

DODOMA: Minister of State in the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government, Mohammed Mchengerwa has tabled 10.125tr/- budget proposal for the

2024/25 years, mentioning coordination and management of Local Governments’ elections being one of their top priorities.

Tabling the proposal to Members of Parliament in Dodoma on Tuesday, the minister said that from the requested amount, 6.709tr/- will be for recurrent which includes salaries and 3.4tr/- for development projects.

The requested fund is an increase of 981bn/- compared to the one requested by the ministry in the 2023/24 financial year that was 9.1tr/-

Moreover, in presenting the ministry’s revenue and expenditures Mr Mchengerwa said that they have allocated a total of 17.79bn/- for the coordination of this year’s local governments’ elections, where from the funds,  8bn/ will be from the Central Government and 9.79bn/- being the council’s contributions through internal revenue to cover the election.

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The local government elections expected to take place this year will include the election of Village, Streets and neighborhood chairmen.

Here are the 12 priorities to be implemented by the ministry according to the minister.

· Managing good governance activities, promoting democracy, citizen participation and decentralization of power to the public (D by D)

· Coordinating and managing the local government elections in 2024;

·  Coordinating and managing the implementation of community services provision

·  To coordinate and manage the strategy to increase revenue collection and control unproductive spending at all levels, including increasing the speed of carbon trading;

· To coordinate and manage ICT systems and infrastructure.

·   To develop human resources at all levels of the President’s Office – PO-RALG

·  Coordinating and managing activities to improve the working environment of the PO-RALG staffs

·    Coordinating and managing the provision of community services

·    Coordinating and managing sports issues in primary and secondary schools

·   Coordinating and managing the performance of existing institutions under the President’s Office -PO-RALG

·   To coordinate and supervise the construction of development projects at all levels of the President’s Office-PO-RALG

·    To coordinate and manage the development activities of villages and towns at local government authorities.