More than 700 workers at Dar port sacked over lack of academic certificates

Dodoma. The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has suspended 749 workers over lack of Form Four certificates.

The authority is now grappling with a manpower shortage, according to TPA board of directors chairman, Prof Ignatus Rubaratuka.

Revealing the situation on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, he said human resources have gone down to 2,650 compared to up to 3,000 workers last year. 

Prof Rubaratuka was speaking before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which was following up on progress made on implementation of the directives it (the committee) issued last year.  

He said TPA had walked the talk on the directives, saying the authority had done evaluation of properties and machines worth Sh1.8 trillion.

Meanwhile, during the last financial year, Prof Rubaratuka said, TPA revenue climbed to Sh838 billion, well above the previous year’s Sh734 billion, thanks to increased cargo handled during the period.

He said cargo at Dar port jumped to16.2 million tonnes, well above the previous year’s 15 million tonnes.

The last financial year’s performance implies that the 2016/17 poor results forced TPA to pull up its socks, to keep momentum going.

In 2016/17, the authority recorded 14.7 million tonnes of cargo compared to 15 million tonnes in 2015/16.

However, during the period revenues increased to Sh734 billion, well above the previous year’s Sh703 billion.

During the last fiscal year, the authority issued Sh254.24 billion in dividends to the government.

The amount is well above compared to the previous year’s Sh106 billion and Sh92 billion recorded in 2015/16.