LINDI: PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has said that President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s unwavering commitment to championing clean cooking in Africa has elevated the Tanzania’s international reputation in promoting societal wellbeing, environment conservation and climate action.
Speaking during the Kizimkazi Declaration Spectacle in Ruangwa District, Lindi Region on Tuesday, Mr Majaliwa noted that President Samia’s efforts in enhancing clean cooking has attracted support from international organisations including the World Bank which has chosen Tanzania to host the Africa Energy Summit in January this year.
At the Kizimkazi Declaration Spectacle, Mr Majaliwa also distributed a total of 1,000 gas cylinders to citizens as part of the implementation of the national clean cooking campaign.
“Let us support President Dr Samia in executing this campaign with the goal of ensuring we take the lead in clean cooking in Africa,” Mr Majaliwa said.
He reminded that the President initiated the clean cooking campaign in Africa, the ambitious initiative pressing a need for collective efforts from all citizens to make it implemented.
“We must be at the frontline of making the clean cooking campaign implemented,” he said.
Furthermore, Mr Majaliwa directed the President Office (Regional Administration and Local Government) to advocate for clean cooking such as electricity, gas and green charcoal.
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Lindi Regional Commissioner Zainab Telack noted that the Kizimkazi Declaration is going to ensure women get rid of unclean cooking.
Gas cylinders distribution programme’s beneficiary, Ms Hawa Mpinga, who is a resident of Nachingwea Ward thanked the government for coming up with the clean cooking campaign which among others results in distribution of the modern cooking facility.
She said the prolonged use of wooden biomass energy including firewood and charcoal has been causing negative impacts to her health including vision impairment culminated by exposure to toxic fumes during cooking.
“Firewood’s smoke has been severely harming our eyes,” she said.
At continental level, President Dr Samia in December 2023 during the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched the Africa Women Clean Cooking Support Programme (AWCCSP), a tool for addressing the challenges faced by women and girls in Africa due to traditional cooking.
During the launching ceremony, Dr Samia said wooden biomass energy use culminated in deforestation amounting to 3.9 million hectares of forest in Africa between 2010 and 2020, hence retarding the continent’s efforts on cutting carbon emission (CO2).
Also, she said wooden biomass energy has been leading to women and girls’ health problems after a prolonged inhalation of thick fumes from firewood.
Therefore, he said the AWCCSP was designed to solve the problems pertaining to loss of biodiversity in Tanzania and across the continent.
“We decided to launch this programme to show our own commitment to mitigations, we want to show that even though our emission levels are relatively low, we will also act and deliver,” she said.
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Adding “clean cooking energy is about mitigation, women empowerment and welfare. Women and girls bear the brunt of lack of sustainable energy cooking solutions.”
At home, President Samia in May last year launched the National Clean Cooking Energy Strategy which is expected to cost a total of 4.6tri/- in ten years spanning from 2024 to 2034.
Under the strategy, Tanzania targets to ensure clean cooking energy’s use reaches 80 per cent by 2034 from the current 10 per cent.
