‘Obey President’s directives on petty traders’
VICE-PRESIDENT Dr Philip Mpango has directed Regional Commissioners (RCs) and District Commissioners (DCs) to obey the directives issued by President Samia Suluhu Hassan of relocating petty traders in their jurisdiction to areas, where the public can reach them with ease.
Dr Mpango issued the directives on Wednesday during his working tour of Ilemela and Magu districts in Mwanza Region which aimed at inspecting development projects and listening to people’s challenges.
He said that it is important to respect the petty traders’ businesses and called upon them to follow the procedures that will be set to avoid misunderstandings.
Early last year, President Samia raised hopes of petty traders, after reaffirming to them that her government was committed to re-organising and building them modern markets, so that they can operate in a safe and orderly manner.
“We are determined to build modern markets with the government’s funds and acquiring soft loans from donors,” President Samia said.
She added that those markets will be established across the country as the government will continue to explore for open spaces suited for building markets, particularly in other districts of the region, so that everyone may benefit from better services no matter where they are.
In her address, President Samia said that she wanted to speak to the representatives of the traders, to see if they agree with the government on the just-completed exercise of relocating them.
The exercise involved transferring traders from areas deemed unfit by authorities and relocating them to government designated sites researched as suitable for traders’ activity.
Meanwhile, Dr Mpango also urged the residents of Mwanza Region to continue working hard and face the economic challenges arising from international conflicts.
Elaborating, he told them to be careful when selling their crops to avoid a shortage of food in the future, adding that the leadership of Mwanza region must prepare a report on food status in order to identify the needed assistance in the region.
Moreover, the VP urged parents and guardians to concentrate on their responsibility by ensuring that children get nutrition at home and school and actively participate in running school food programme.
He also instructed the councils to conduct an assessment of the economic status of parents in contributing to the school feeding scheme.
Speaking with the Kisesa residents in Magu district, Dr Mpango instructed the Ministry of Water to address the water challenges in the area as soon as possible to get rid of the endless woes.
Equally, he instructed the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Governments (PO-RALG) in collaboration with the Director of the Magu Council to ensure that a fence is built at the Kisesa Health Center before the end of April 2023.
