MINISTER of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments), Selemani Jafo, has said that District Executive Directors (DEDs) who fail to allocate funds for special groups should consider themselves unfit to hold their positions.
Mr Jafo argued that allocating 10 per cent for youth, women and people with disabilities was a legal requirement, thus failure to do so was subject to breaching the law.
“I give until June 30 to all DEDs to fulfil this budget allocation, otherwise they should write to me and explain,” he said.
He further warned that those who will face the sack for going against that law should blame no one but themselves.
The minister was speaking yesterday when he officially opened a food vendor’s festival (Mama Lishe Festival) in Kisarawe District, Coast Region.
He said for the last four years of President John Magufuli, the government has disbursed a total of 93.3bn/-to empower the special groups.
He commended Kisarawe District for effective allocation of the budget to the groups and organising the festival for the same purpose.
On her part, Kisarawe District Commissioner, Jokate Mwegelo explained that the festival was the first of its kind in the area, and is meant to recognise the contribution of food vendors to the economy of the district.
The event was organised ahead of Women’s Day set for March 8 to encourage women to participate in economic activities and realise gender balance.
He noted that food vending has been a major economic activity for majority of women in the district, and accounts for 65 per cent of all women involved in the business.
Through this economic activity, she said women were able to meet their family needs, including paying school fees for their children.
“Considering the importance of women selling food, we have come up with this festival to build their capacity in terms of financial management and more cooking skills for better health,” she said.
The DC was upbeat that education on nutrition to food vendors will help in reducing diseases related to low uptake of nutritious foods, such as stunting and malnutrition.
