Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT John Magufuli yesterday appointed a new Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Minerals, Professor Shukrani Manya, whom he urged to use his expertise to bring the ministry back on the right track.
Dr Magufuli gave the directive after swearing in the new deputy minister who replaced Mr Francis Ndulane, who failed to accurately read the content of his oath of office during a swearing in function on Wednesday.
He however insisted that he appointed him because it was identified that the ministry had no enough professionals, including the minister who is a teacher by profession, and the Permanent Secretary who is not a professional in mining.
“I want to caution you that this ministry had a minister who was a professor but he did not make it, and even the Permanent Secretary is a professor, but things didn’t go down well,’’ he said.
The President said officials at the Ministry of Minerals are duty bound to come up with workable strategies on how the government can fully exploit mineral resources the country is endowed with.
He said despite the country being rich in minerals such as coal, iron and many others, the country is yet to reap their benefits.
In another development, Dr Magufuli directed Chief Secretary, Engineer John Kijazi that salaries of staff in the defunct Tanzania Minerals Audit Agency (TMAA) should be slashed because they don’t deserve them.
“It is not possible that you have been transferred from the mining commission where you were earning 10m/ and later go beyond the salary of your executive chairman or director of the institution,’’ he stated adding: “It was impossible for the Director General to receive 10m/- when the subordinate was receiving 10m/-.
The President reiterated that he was receiving 9m/- while others in institutions like Tanzania Revenue Authority were receiving more. He directed that all staff that are not willing to have their salaries deducted to go and look for other jobs.
He tasked the Permanent Secretary in the President’s Office, Public Service and Good Governance to work on the matter, insisting that when he came to power, he reduced salaries of different Chief Executive Officers to the lowest amount possible.
The appointment of Prof Manya came after one of the Deputy Ministers failed to take oath of office on Wednesday.
Mr Francis Ndulane was among 23 lucky lawmakers who were appointed by Dr Magufuli as Deputy Ministers on December 5.
Much as he arrived at State House in the morning with high expectation that he was due to officially kick off his duties as the new minister after taking oath of office, things didn’t go down well for him.
