Magufuli awaited in Moshi for may day fete

Moshi. President John Magufuli is expected to be a guest of honour during the commemorations of Labour Day, which will be held at national level in the region.

Officials of the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (Tucta) have confirmed that the Head of State has been invited as a guest of honour for the celebrations in which he is expected to explain what measures by the government to improve the workers' welfare.

Should he go there, this will be Dr Magufuli's first official visit to Moshi and Kilimanjaro region since taking over as the Union's fifth President following his victory in the October 2015 General Election.

Preparations are already underway for the event which comes only a few days after President met senior officials of Tucta at the State House in Dar es Salaam where they discussed matters relating to the workers' welfare.

This will the second time in the country's history for Moshi to host the May Day celebrations after a similar event, also known as the Labour or Workers' Day, took place in the municipality in the 1990s.

An official of the organizing committee Adam Salala said workers would be expecting the government to improve their welfare during the May Day fete normally addressed by the national leaders.

"Workers would be expecting much from the leaders this time around, knowing too well that some of their demands have been met while others are yet to be addressed", he told The Citizen.

Among their consistent demands is wage increase, improvement of the welfare of employees - especially for those in the formal sector - and their participation in decision-making fora such as the workers' councils.

A resident of Moshi and a wage earner Jasmin Joseph said he expects the government to give a statement on measures being taken to improve their welfare, citing the salary increase.

Tucta secretary general Dr. Yahya Msigwa confirmed that President Magufuli is expected to be the Guest of Honour during the climax of the celebrations on Monday next week.

He said the Head of State has already been invited but was yet to respond to the invitation to travel to Moshi for the event. He could not say if the invitation was extended during Tucta delegation's visit to the State House last Thursday.

According to Dr. Msigwa, there are an estimated 3.7 employees in the formal sector and that only 650,000 were members of the trade unions affiliated to Tucta. He decried the low number of workers in the trade union body.

"It appears that majority of Tanzanians do not realize the importance of joining the trade union movements", he said, underscoring the need for awareness creation on the matter.