The standoff between the Arusha City Director, Ms Sipora Liana and the Municipal Mayor, Mr Gaudens Lyimo, has resulted into the cancellation of a planned study tour for ward representatives who were to visit Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
Arusha City
The Arusha Ward Representatives’ official trip to Dar-es-Salaam was meant for the councillors to learn a few things from their counterparts in Ilala, Temeke and Kinondoni councils, after which the team of nearly 25 people was to be ferried into Unguja and Pemba isles during their seven-day itinerary.
The trouble between the mayor and city director peaked during the recently held ‘Full Council’ meeting, normally organised every month and which this time was held at the District Commissioner’s offices instead of the usual venue at the Arusha City Hall.
The temporary shift was accounted for the fact that the City Hall was small and attendance was bigger this time; the councillors thus moved to the new venue in the absence of the mayor who later turned up and ordered the session to be closed because he had not been informed about it.
Mr Lyimo banged the table, claiming that Ms Liana had called for a full-council meeting without informing him and he was required by law to chair such sessions; “This meeting is illegal and I, therefore, close it; everybody should disperse!” ordered the mayor.
But, the director later told the House that she had tried to contact the mayor by phone for a week but Mr Lyimo was not picking up his phone; “I later on resolved to officially send an officer with a dispatch from my office,” she stated. Since the mayor usually chairs all monthly full-council meetings, he unceremoniously closed it before storming out of the building with a few councillors in tow.
Heated discussions followed with ward representatives arguing among themselves whether they should ignore Mr Lyimo and proceed or adjourn the session. Eventually, the meeting had to stop and later on it was announced that even the proposed study tour for the councillors to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar was shelved forthwith until the situation at the city council normalises
By MARC NKWAME, Tanzania Daily News
