TTB chair faults minister’s decision to disband board
What you need to know:
- The chairman of the Tanzania Tourist Board of directors, retired Judge Thomas Mihayo, has decried the decision made by Natural Resources and Tourism Minister to disband the board
Dar es Salaam. The chairman of the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) of directors, retired Judge Thomas Mihayo, yesterday criticised the decision made by Natural Resources and Tourism Minister, Dr Hamis Kigwangalla to disband the board.
Judge Mihayo, who doubles as the chairman of Association, decried the decision made by Dr Kigwangalla during an exclusive interview with The Citizen that sought to know his position on the matter.
He said the minister lacked legal mandate to disband the board because it has the chairman of the board who is a presidential appointee.
“The minister has no legal authority to disband the TTB board because disbanding the board means everything is dissolved, but if there is something remaining then the board is still existing,” he said.
“I will wait for the minister to appoint the new board members in order to continue with my routine duties unless the appointing authority fires me.”
According to him, Dr Kigwangalla should wait for removal of the board chairman by the appointing authority for his decision to be legally accepted because currently, part of the board is still existing.
“This means the minister is probably waiting for the decision of the President or he is pressing for the president to act,” he said.
“The only person who can automatically disband the board is the President because the board constitutes the chairman who is his appointee and members have been appointed by his appointee-the minister.”
He said the minister may directly disband the board after consulting the head of state and that in doing so he is supposed to state that he has been directed by the president to do so. He said the minister has neither issued any instruction through meeting, letter or telephone conservation to the chairman since the day he was appointed into the position.
“We are therefore unaware of things that we erred as human beings, we may have gone wrong somewhere, but sincerely speaking, we didn’t deserve what has happened,” he said.
On January 18, this year, Dr Kigwangalla announced to dissolve the TTB board over inefficiency, something that sparked a heated debate regarding legal mandate of the minister over the decision.
