The government will only establish urban authorities in the country when all criteria are met without being influenced by either MPs or ‘wananchi.’
Mr Felix Mkosamali (Muhambwe – NCCR)
The Deputy Minister for Local Government and Regional Administration, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, made the remarks in the National Assembly when responding to Mr Felix Mkosamali (Muhambwe – NCCR), who had urged the government to fast-track the establishment of urban authorities.
Mr Mkosomali, in his supplementary question, said the process could even be accomplished in three months but wondered why the government was so bureaucratic and dragged its feet on working on the applications.
“The government is not serious, if it were serious enough there would not be so numerous pending applications. Why are you reluctant to establish townships while all criteria have been fulfilled?”
Mr Mkosamali wondered. In response, Mr Majaliwa said there were a number of factors, including budget, space and population, that were considered before reaching the stage of declaring townships.
Mr Majaliwa said there were also some procedures that must be paid attention to, including discussing the matter by the Ward Development Committee, full council, District Consultative Council (DCC) and Regional Consultative Council (RCC).
“After discussing the matter in these stages, that is when the Regional Administration and Local Government Ministry sends a team of experts to verify if the listed criteria have been met,” Mr Majaliwa said.
However, another legislator, Ms Cecilia Pareso (Special Seats -Chadema), appealed to the government to stop establishing more urban authorities, but instead put more efforts in improving social services in the existing ones, most of which were still poor.
Source Tanzania Daily News
