Parliament gives nod to Sh6.24 trillion budget for the President’s Office

Dodoma. The Parliament yesterday (April 15) endorsed Sh6.24 trillion in 2019/20 fiscal year budget for the ministry of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government).

The National Assembly also approved Sh683.5 billion budget for the ministry of State in the President’s Office responsible for Public Service and Good Governance

The Budget proposals for the two ministries were tabled by responsible ministers; Selemani Jafo and George Mkuchika on Wednesday, last week.

Mr Jafo said among of the projects to be implemented under the period in review, include phase three of the Bus Rapid Transport, construction of new 57 hospitals and improving free education.

Also in a pipeline, include building offices at regions and districts for the Tanzania Rural and Urban Road Agency and renovating 13,098.6 km of roads.

Employment

Earlier, winding up the debate on his budget Mr Jafo said, in a fresh bid to address the challenge of unemployment, the government will soon hire over 45,000 people to various sectors.

He explained that, of the figure,  18,081 will be employed as teachers.

Free education

Mr Jafo said some Sh854.3 billion have so far been dished out for free education in both primary and secondary schools. 

He said some Sh474.9 billion was for secondary schools, with the rest being for primary.

“We want children from all walks of life access education to sharpen their skills so that they can all become asset in shaping the destiny of our economy,” he said.  

Mr Mkuchika for his part reiterated his warnings on District Commissioners (DCs) and Regional Commissioners (RCs), who were misusing their power by ordering people to be locked up for up to 24 and 48 hours respectively.

He ordered them to adhere to laws, which required them to only use that power for security reasons and not otherwise.

He was responding to concerns raised by some legislators, including a Special Seats MP, Ms Jesca Kishoa, (Chadema), who sought to know the government's measures against DCs and RCs, who were mistreating people.