AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE second meeting of the 12th Parliament proceeds today, where the Members of Parliament will sit as the planning committee to discuss and offer their suggestions on the proposals for the roadmap of the National Development Plan for the year 2021/2022.
The plan is expected to be tabled in the House today by the Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Phillip Mpango after the Questions and Answers session.
The MPs are expected to spend five days from today to deliberate on the plan according to the schedule released by the Parliament’s Communications Unit.
This will be the first proposals that MPs will be discussing after the general election held last year, ahead of the implementation of the government’s priorities for the next five years, starting with the plans for the fiscal year 2021/22.
The process is held in accordance to section 113 (2) of the Parliaments regulations that provides a platform for MPs to sit as a planning committee in the meetings held in October and November, with exception on the beginning of the meetings of the new parliament.
Since the 12th Parliament was inaugurated in November, last year, the lawmakers are then supposed to discuss the national development plan ahead of the implementations slated for the coming fiscal year.
In January, this year, during the Bunge committees meetings, the Parliamentary Budget Committee received the proposals for the roadmap of the final national development plan for the preparation of the government’s budget plan for the year 2021/2022.
The second meeting of the 12th, Parliament kicked off last week in Dodoma, where the Legislators spent four days, from Tuesday to Friday, to discuss the priorities announced by President John Magufuli on his speech of inaugurating the 12th Parliament on November 13th, last year.
During their discussions, among other things, the MPs commended President Magufuli for his dedicated efforts to bring development in the country and coming up with proper priorities for the interest of the entire country.
They were optimistic that, if properly implemented, the priorities would definitely take Tanzania to a next level, given the fact that the country has already entered in a list of middle income countries.
The MPs also asked for the continued efforts to improve road infrastructures in rural and urban areas, asking the government to increase a ratio of development budget allocated for Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency (Tarura) for it to improve its performance.
They also spoke on the need for the government to put more emphasis on improving agriculture, livestock and fisheries, industrial, education and water sectors.
