Tanzanian President John Magufuli sacked Sunday head of Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) for increasing the electricity tariff.
The state-run electricity company approved power tariff hike of 8.53 percent citing losses.
Sacking of managing director Felchesmi Mramba was announced by the president office in a statement saying the power tariff hike is unacceptable while the country is making plans to build manufacturing industries and provide more electricity to the people.
Currently only 40 percent of the country’s population has access to electricity and the Magufuli government is aiming power should reach to 75 percent people by 2025.
The president has sacked many public officials after coming to power about a year ago as part of an anti-corruption campaign and to root out inefficiency of the government.
Tito Esau Mwinuka, Lecturer of state-run University of Dar es Salaam, has been appointed as acting managing director of TANESCO.
TANESCO had earlier sought for an increase of about 18 percent to overcome the loss trend and clear up the debts to fuel suppliers and independent power producers.
The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) approved the tariff hike that was supposed to come into effect from January 1.
Meanwhile, TANESCO has warned non-implementation of the hike could paralyse its financial capacity. Earlier it failed to seek loans from World Bank, the African Development Bank (ADB) and commercial lenders.
The country has been facing chronic power shortages for more than a decade even though there’s a reserve of more than 57 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
