Government to spend Sh82 billion during local government elections

Dodoma. Government will spend Sh82.9 billion in conducting the local government elections set for October this year.

The government also allayed fears of opposition political parties, saying the 2019 elections will be free and fair.

The statement was issued in Parliament today June 12, by deputy minister of state in the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), Mr Mwita Waitara.

He was responding to a question by Mtambile MP, Mr Masoud Abdallah Salim (CUF) who sought to know how far the preparations for the elections had gone.

In his response, Mr Waitara said regulations for local government elections has been prepared and published in the government gazette (GN) of April 26, 2019.

“The government has verified areas of administration, carried out trainings and meetings with election stakeholders. It is now in the process of procuring election equipment and Sh82.9 billion will be spend for elections,” he said.

In his supplementary question, Mr Salima sought the government’s statement following previous trend of restricting opposition candidates from vying various positions due to what was referred as lacking qualifications.

He said in Morogoro CCM was carrying political rallies advocating for Green Morogoro, something he referred as early campaigning.

In his response, Mr Waitara said, “The local government elections will be free and fair as names of voters will be displayed at respective polling stations. I think the opposition have fears of losing elections because of the fifth phase government’s achievement,” he said.