Good days ahead, says Samia

PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has summed up her two years leadership administration as progressive, while also promising more good days ahead.

She highlighted the progress made by her administration and pledged to implement more new initiatives that will steadily develop the country.

At a ceremony organised by CCM Women’s Wing (UWT) to congratulate her for two years of leadership at a well-attended event staged at the Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam on Sunday, President Samia stated that the sixth phase government has done several things to stimulate development of the nation.

“The government has created a friendly environment that provides all Tanzanians with opportunities to develop socially and economically and has also continued implementing several projects left behind by the fifth phase government,” Dr Samia noted.

She added: “In addition to implementing all the projects initiated by the fifth phase administration, we have introduced new ones where creativity leads us. My promise to you is that we will continue to fulfill all the projects that are at hand, and initiate new ones for the development of the nation.”

In the health sector, she stated that the government will continue to purchase various medical equipment, so that health services can be provided within the country.

“We have built hospitals, health centres, and dispensaries; now our task is to strengthen what we have built and train staff to provide quality services to Tanzanians,” she explained.

According to her, one of Tanzania’s most well-known projects that has received recognition worldwide is the mobile ‘M-mama’ service, which provides emergency transportation for pregnant and postpartum women.

M-mama has developed an innovative three-tiered approach to removing delays: engaging the community; providing emergency transport for mothers and babies; and strengthening the local health systems, so when mothers and babies arrive at a health facility, they receive the quality care they need.

This initiative has caught the attention of many countries that are willing to borrow a leaf. And, Dr Samia stated that the project would be implemented in various countries by international organisations.

In the pilot phase, which ran from 2013 to 2022, the programme reached over 10,455 women and 2,200 new-borns with over 200 drivers registered and trained as community taxis.

In addition, President Samia announced that starting this year; the government will construct 25 science schools for girls countrywide and Vocational Education and Training (VETA) colleges in each district.

“These institutions will teach young people various technologies so they can be innovative and contribute to Tanzanians’ development,” she added.

President Samia said in the agricultural sector, a block/cluster farming programme will be launched in Dodoma today for crops that are in limited supply across the nation.

“We’ll start with 812 youths by enlisting them in training, and if they graduate, we’ll give them their title deeds so they can begin working on fields that have irrigation infrastructure already installed,” said Dr Samia.

She said in large part, women especially the elderly are the ones engaged in agriculture thus the government came up with the plan to ensure more young people are involved in commercial farming under Building Better Tomorrow programme (BBT).

The government, she said, “is continuing working and will keep making sure that different projects are accomplished.”

Meanwhile, when the opportunity presented itself, President Samia urged women to run for a number of political posts.

Dr Samia urged all women to unite and speak out about what is happening to women within their political parties, in order to pressure them to reform, particularly with regard to harassment of women, who wish to enter politics.

She remarked, “Our parties should back us when we run for seats, let’s raise our voices together regardless of our political differences to ensure that many women enter politics and get elected.”

Regarding efforts to attain the 50/50 threshold in leadership, she said the country was doing well in some areas, for example in the judiciary, where 40 of the 86 high court judges are women and among the 26 Regional Administrative Secretaries (RAS) 12 are women.

However, she noted that there were still few female Members of Parliament, urging them to participate in the forthcoming elections to raise their representation from the current 37 per cent to at least 40 per cent.

She also emphasised the need for women’s groups that borrowed money from the council’s internal revenue to reimburse them so that other women’s groups might benefit.

In order to ensure that we collect these loans and that many women, youths and persons with disabilities benefit, Dr Samia added, “We must be inventive. To date, 88 per cent of the money that went out has not been repaid.”

Last year while in Mbeya Region, President Samia directed local Councillors to closely monitor the loans and make sure that tangible projects are being implemented with them.

She stated that loan repayment was a crucial component that Councillors must make sure is well-supervised for other groups to also benefit so that the government fulfills its primary goal on the loans.