VP: Address challenges facing citizenry

THE Vice-President Philip Mpango, who is also a member of CCM’s Central Committee, has urged party leaders and members to comprehend their obligation to the nation by listening and addressing the challenges facing the citizenry.

Dr Mpango made the call on Saturday at Mnazi Mmoja grounds in Dar es Salaam, during the commemoration of the 46^th anniversary of the ruling party.

The VP pointed that the main objective for formation of CCM was to speak out for the underprivileged and thus the party has a mandate of protecting them by denouncing all kind of evils and oppression by advancing their issues from grassroots to national level.

He thus urged CCM leaders including members of parliament and local councillors to closely supervise the government to ensure it implements the party’s manifesto for 2020-2025.

“You should allocate your time and listen to people and ensure all projects which are earmarked in the manifesto are undertaken effectively,” Dr Mpango told the party leaders.

From Njombe, CCM Regional Chairman Mr Deo Sanga, said that during the past two years the sixth phase government has dished billions of shillings to undertake development projects in sectors such as health, education, water and agriculture.

His sentiments were echoed by other party leaders in the region who hailed President Samia Suluhu Hassan for her efforts in supporting various development initiatives in different sectors of the economy.

The leaders were speaking during a ceremony to commemorate the 46^th anniversary of the party in the region.

For his part, Njombe Regional Commissioner, Mr Anthony Mtaka, said the region has earmarked strategies that will propel the southern high region as an exemplary in spurring economic growth.

He was confident that through economic growth, the region will drastically reduce the number of people who benefit from cash transfers provided through poverty reduction schemes undertaken by Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF).

In a related development, Mr Mtaka told party members and ordinary citizens who attended the celebrations that the Njombe regional authorities have approached the Ministry of Agriculture to send its officials to take soil samples in Njombe to test its suitability for growing wheat.

Elaborating, he explained that the region has started plans to reduce TASAF beneficiaries by providing each household which benefit from the poverty reduction scheme with ten seedlings of avocados, which will enable them to improve their incomes.

“One avocado tree can produce fruits worth 100,000/- during the first year and 150,000/-. This translates to about 2m/- for ten trees per annum.

“After two years, we shall conduct an assessment on all TASAF beneficiaries provided with avocado seedlings to find out whether they still qualify to be provided with the cash transfers for poverty reduction,” he explained.

According to the RC, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Hussein Bashe, has pledged to provide 250,000 seedlings of avocado which will be allocated to all 25,000 TASAF beneficiaries.

“Through the initiative, we believe that after five years we will not have TASAF beneficiaries in Njombe Region,” he affirmed.

In the education sector, the RC said assessment conducted by regional authorities has established that 90 per cent of students who were selected to join Form One in public schools have reported to their respective institutions of learning.

In primary education, Mr Mtaka elaborated that the assessment showed that the region surpassed its target of enrolling pupils in primary schools by 106 per cent.

Meanwhile, ALLY MAYALA reports from Mwanza that CCM’s National Executive Council member, Dr Josephat Gwajima has underscored effective utilisation of Lake Victoria for irrigation farming and fishing to enable the region to be self-sufficient economically.

Dr Gwajima made the remarks yesterday during commemoration of the 46^th anniversary of the party in the region.

He noted that the Mwanza Region imports large portion of its staple food such as maize, rice, beans and fruits including water melon from neighbouring regions, the situation that causes final consumers who are the majority citizens to obtain food at high price.

“In order to mitigate food shortage and cut living cost, we need to produce food ourselves by using our endowed water source, it needs us to change our mindset, moreover every one of us should work hard, ” Dr Gwajima said.

Dr Gwajima said fishing and agriculture are the key economic sectors, which can create employment to many citizens.

Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ms Marry Masanja said the government eyes at transforming Mwanza to become the hub for tourism, citing the government construction of transportation infrastructure such as the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and Kigongo Busisi Bridge as the measures to open the city for tourism and trade.

For his part, Mwanza CCM Chairman, Mr Sixberth Chichabu thanked the government for allocating enough fund for different development projects including 19bn/- for the construction of 983 classrooms.