Why budgets of 2 ministries triggered hot debates

It was hectic and challenging in Parliament as ministerial estimates for the financial year 2018/2019 were tabled and debated.

Budgets of the ministries of Water and Trade elicited hot debates.

That of Ministry of Water was tabled first, with the minister asking to get approval of the budget to deliver services.

Many member s of Parliament resisted the passage of the budget, citing poor performance in the implementation of projects.

The failure to deliver is of course related to actual funds delivered from the Ministry of Finance, with many members of Parliament saying the water provision was not given its due consideration.

They said the funding delivery was extremely low.

However, the Ministry of Finance was on the defensive, claiming the actual performance was higher as the financial year 2017/18 was drawing to a close.

The issue of public funds waste, pilferage and theft in water projects was strongly argued and members of Parliament called on authorities to swiftly take legal steps against perpetrators. They insisted that failure to act was seriously affecting the implementation of water projects.

On the Ministry of Trade and Industry, issues raised were about easing the way of making business for the country to woo investors – local and foreign.

They said it was tough to do business in Tanzania as taxes were high and numerous while regulations were unfriendly to investors.

The MPs also challenged the government on the pace and style of industrialisation as Tanzania plans to reach a middle-income level of $3,000 on the average by 2025.

They warned that attaining the industrialisation goal might be a pipe dream.

The issue of realising huge potential of iron ore at Liganga was at the heart of many lawmakers as they said it was strange that the government has been talking about the project for years without implement its plan. They demanded a concrete plan be prepared and made clear on how to move forward.

Many also were up arm in arms about the government failure to implement its own policy named ‘Cotton to Clothing (C2C)’, which is aimed at revamping over a dozen textile mills in Arusha, Mwanza, Mara, Morogoro and Dar es Salaam.

Such factories will use locally produced cotton and create employment.

Many MPS argued that was the best point for Tanzania to start its industrialisation journey, much as England, India and France started theirs’. It was interesting to see both sides of Parliament contributed to debates in an impartial way.

Mr Saleh is a lawyer, journalist, author, political commentator, media consultant and poet. He is also the Member of Parliament for Malindi in Zanzibar