AfricaPress-Tanzania: MTWARA Regional Commissioner (RC), Gelasius Byakanwa, has ordered the arrest of the Sinoma International Engineering Company Limited Manager, for allegedly blocking workers from leaving the factory for more than a month under the pretext of protecting them from Covid-19 infection.
Mr Byakanwa said more than 70 workers were subjected to forcefully lockdown and barred from going to visit family members, threatening to fire whoever would disobey him, something which is a violation of human rights. The company deals with the construction of Dangote cement factory in the region.
A metalworker at Sinoma, Mr Fadhili Mkana, said they were informed that in the wake of the pandemic, the company decided to bar them from going to their homes.
Another employee, Mr Nicholaus Mlaponi, said they were sleeping in an unsuitable environment but had to comply for lack of an option.
“We have responsibilities and families to take care of; They threatened us that whoever would leave the factory would lose one’s job; So we complied for the sake of retaining our jobs,” he lamented.
His comments were echoed by another employee, Joseph Daudi, who said there were no basic amenities, and medication at the pharmacy and the food was unpalatable.
“The government cares for all the people; If it weren’t for the message of one of you, I wouldn’t know this and come to rescue you,” said RC Byakanwa.
He called on the company’s leaders not to dismiss workers for their decision to deliver the message and if anyone was fired, the government would take further action.
President John Magufuli has several times reiterated that the government would not lock down Dar es Salaam and other regions, pointing out that it was not the best option to check the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
Instead, the Head of State assured the public that his government was doing everything in its capacity to contain the novel virus.
He reminded people to adhere to all preventive measures while putting in hard work to build the country’s economy, and expressed hopes that health experts would do to fight the pandemic.
While many countries have embraced a lockdown response, Tanzania has sought a different approach and President Magufuli insisted that the government would stick to more effective local solutions rather than copying and pasting measures from elsewhere.
Since the outbreak of the respiratory disease in mid-March, Tanzania has resisted calls for locking down some parts of the country as it is trying to win the fight against the pandemic without resorting to lockdowns or other extremely restrictive measures.
President Magufuli reiterated that locking down Dar es Salaam would mean closing all social and economic activities in the country.
