Eligible Dar residents should go for BVR this Sunday

Dar es Salaam, The business capital of Tanzania, which accounted for 90 percent of total  country’s tax collection between June and September 2019 according to BoT’s Consolidated Zonal Economic Performance Report was estimated by the National Bureau of Statistics (Tanzania in Figures) to have 5.1 million people in 2018 with an annual growth rate of 5.6 percent.
Taking into account the population growth rate in Dar es Salaam, as the country heads into the 2020 general election.
Members of Parliament and Councillors say the city would  have nearly 5.7 million people whilst the young population aged between 0 and 17 years where you would realize some first-time voters account for 38.7 percent of the entire population in the city.
According to official statistics of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) released in 2016 and for the first time to evaluate the 2015 general election, NEC planned to register 2.9 million voters in the city, but eventually registered 2.8 million voters in the Biometric Permanent Voter Register, which was 95.4 percent of the NEC’s registration target for the city.
The 2.8 million registered voters of Dar es Salaam were equal to 12 percent of the entire 23.16 million total country’s registered voters in 2015.
Being the country’s hub for major economic activities and certainly having significant contribution to the country’s GDP , Dar es Salaam city holds a significant importance in the country’s democracy where according to the credible election observation consortium (TACCEO) about 47 percent of eligible voters  in the city did not receive voter education in 2015.
This is the reason why we need to examine the importance of a civic obligation and constitutional call to the city’s residents eligible to vote to massively go out to register into the BVR which shall only last for seven days started last Friday on February 14, 2020 until next Friday on February, 20, 2020.
The Dar es Saalaam city with its five municipal councils of Ubungo, Kinondoni, Temeke, Ilala and Kigamboni, whose cumulative budget worth is more than Sh180 billion, has several development, administrative and oversight challenges, which need voters’ intervention by voting in the office appropriate representatives in this case the councillors to get into office to address those challenges and provide appropriate solutions.
Article 21 sub-article (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania provides obligations and rights to the citizen eligible to vote to take part in matters related to governance and to participate fully in the process leading to decision on matters affecting them.
After a thorough review of the most recent available facts published on 27th November 2019 in the website of the National Audit Office, the CAG’s report on local government authorities for the financial year 2017/2018, in my assessment I think the most serious oversight challenge that needs to be addressed by would be 2020 General Election elected councillors and it should attract the attention of all eligible voters to be registered into the BVR for the Dar es Salaam city is the low capacity of at least all five municipal councils of Ubungo, Kinondoni, Temeke, Ilala and Kigamboni to meet the collection target of own source revenue.
Despite all municipal councils being conferred with the unqualified audit opinion in the year under CAG’s review yet it shows that own source revenue collection target failure was led by Kigamboni Municipal council which aimed to collect Sh9.2 billion but only collected Sh5.0 billion which was target failure of 46 percent, followed by Ubungo Municipal council which aimed to collect Sh24.2 billion,  but eventually collected only Sh 15.12 billion equivalent to target failure of 38 percent.
Kinondoni Municipal council was the third is failure to meet its own source revenue collection target with a collection target of Sh45.9 billion while actual collection was Sh28.9 billion equivalent to target failure of 37 percent.
Temeke Municipal council was the fourth in collection target failure of 14 percent, aimed to collected Sh37.5 billion and ended up collecting only Sh32.3 billion while the giant in own source revenue collection under that year of review, Ilala Municipal council was far better off than the rest of the municipal councils with a very slight rate of target failure of only 2 percent with a target of collecting Sh46.6 billion and ending up collecting Sh45.5 billion.
Therefore looking at the Dar es Salaam city as the hub of country’s business, eligible residents with eligibility to vote must give their voting right importance by getting out massively to register in the BVR and the would be councillor candidates of these municipal councils both have to consider addressing the budgetary oversight challenge on failure to meet targets in own source revenue collection in order to facilitate successful financing of development activities affecting the lives of people in the said municipal councils in the next five years after the 2020 General Election. 
It should be understood that the Dar es Salaam city and its municipal councils requires to increase its own source revenue collection and develop sustainable internal capacity to meet the revenue targets. Residents of Dar es Salaam eligible to be registered as voters need to prepare by massively getting out to be registered in the BVR ready for the October 2020 voting of appropriate candidates with capabilities of playing an effective oversight role of the municipal councils.
For example, only about 8 percent of Dar es Salaam’s population which accounts for about 40 percent of the city’s manufacturing jobs and 53 percent of manufacturing value requires quite a handsome number of eligible voters to vote in the office competent councillors with abilities to advise councils and play effective oversight role on widening the tax base of service levy for instance by improving the business enabling environment, increasing the number of new businesses and manufacturing entities in an efforts of increasing own source revenue in all the five municipal councils. 

Frederick Fussi is a policy analyst from Tanzania Youth Vision Association (TYVA)– a youth-led NGO