PM: 2,000 govt officials are in Dodoma

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa tables the 2017/18 budget for his office in Parliament in Dodoma yesterday. PHOTO | EDWIN MJWAHUZI

What you need to know:

The officials, who include ministers, permanent secretaries, heads of department and other senior officials had moved to Dodoma by the end of the first phase in February.

 Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa yesterday reiterated the government’s resolve to effectively make Dodoma Tanzania’s new capital, revealing that so far 2,069 government officials have already shifted here.

The officials, who include ministers, permanent secretaries, heads of department and other senior officials had moved to Dodoma by the end of the first phase in February.

Mr Majaliwa did not say how much money would be allocated for the move in the 2017/18 Budget, but promised that the move would be completed by 2020. He also didn’t say anything about the enactment of the law that makes Dodoma the capital city. This prompted the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai, to wonder why the government was delaying to take the law to Parliament.

“I wonder what is happening with this law. It should come for enactment in Parliament. Mr Attorney General, make sure we get it. You will tell us when October comes,” he remarked after Mr Majaliwa tabled the 2017/18 budget in Parliament yesterday.

State of the economy

Mr Majaliwa asked Parliament to approve Sh171.66 billion for his office. Out of the sume, Sh74.6 billion is recurrent budget and Sh97 billion being for development projects.

The Prime Minister also asked the august House to approve Sh121.65 billion for Parliament office, Sh114.4 billion being the recurrent budget and Sh7.2 billion being for development.

Mr Majaliwa updated the state of the economy as being on the right track following a seven per cent growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016.

He also said the government had facilitated the creation of 418,501 jobs by March 2017, as part of its implementation of the 2015 CCM Election Manifesto. Some 57 per cent of the jobs were created in the private sector, he said.

Mr Majaliwa also said the government has released a go ahead to employ 4,129 teachers of mathematics and science for in primary and secondary schools.

He further said the government improved tax revenue collection from an average of Sh850 billion to an average of Sh1.2 trillion per month.

He also said the number of tourists increased by 12 per cent from 1,137,182 in 2015 to 1,284,279 in 2016 bringing in the country $2 billion (Sh4.5 trillion).

Industrialisation

Mr Majaliwa said the government was going on with promotion of its industrialisation drive.

He said six pension funds —NSSF, PPF, LAPF, GEPF, PSPF and NHIF —had agreed to revive 27 industries in different areas.

He asked other state-owned corporations to make sure that they focus on government priorities, particularly the industrialisation drive.

Food security

Mr Majaliwa said that initial evaluation showed 55 districts were affected by the drought and encouraged the private sector to regulate the situation by buying food from areas with surplus and sell it where there are shortages.

He also said the government had bought and distributed 1,969 tonnes of seeds which could fit in the areas affected by drought.

In supporting the agriculture sector, Mr Majaliwa said the government had cancelled some nuisance charges in the sector especially on cotton, tea and cashews.

He said the government would continue abolishing all other unnecessary taxes in efforts to support agriculture growth.

War on narcotics

Mr Majaliwa said between July 2016 to January 2017, 11,503 suspects were arrested in connection with drug dealing and 9,813 cases were in different stages.

He said 974 suspects were found guilty, 238 suspects were set free and cases of 478 others are ongoing.

Mining

Premier Majaliwa said the government had set 11 areas with a size of 38,567 hectares for small-scale mining in the country between July 2016 and February 2017