Minister’s order on trading defied

What you need to know:

  • The Council insists that President Magufuli’s directive allows petty traders (machinga) to be left free to conduct their businesses on the street in all municipal councils.

Dar es Salaam. The Ilala Municipal Council has opposed the government’s order to relocate petty traders conducting their businesses in undesignated areas.

The Council insists that President Magufuli’s directive allows petty traders (machinga) to be left free to conduct their businesses on the street in all municipal councils.

Addressing reporters at a press conference on Sunday, Ilala municipal mayor Charles Kuyeko said machinga in the municipality would continue going about their businesses comfortably.

“We are implementing the President’s directive, not the one issued by the Minister of State in the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government, Mr George Simbachawene. The machingas shouldn’t be disturbed until further decisions are made,” he said.

He said implementing the directives by the minister would confuse the petty traders as they had already started moving to the designated areas but the President’s directives to leave them alone had prompted them to return to the city centre.

Last week, during a visit by the Administration and Local Government Parliamentary Committee to the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transport Agency (Dart) project, Mr Simbachawene ordered Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda to evict petty traders along the project’s infrastructure.