Author: FLORENCE MUGARULA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE CCM Presidential Candidate, Dr John Magufuli has explained why the fifth government concentrated on building infrastructure, improving transportation and communication network, saying the strategy is aimed at building a strong economic base for majority Tanzanians.
Dr Magufuli said over the past five years, his government focused on improving infrastructure and building new ones.
He was addressing a campaign rally at Somanda primary school grounds where he asked wananchi to vote for CCM candidates so that they can continue with the implementation of various development projects that aim at effecting socio-economic changes in the country.
He said building roads, bridges and other infrastructure are crucial in building the economy at both individual and national level.
“We have built hospitals, health centres, dispensaries and increased budget for medicine and other hospital equipment; these are very important things in building the economy; we need healthy people to build a strong economy,” he said, adding: “In building the economy, you must start with charting strategies, which include building strong infrastructure; these later enable people to use them for economic growth.”
Dr Magufuli said with passable roads, new aircraft, bridges, improved water, transport and others; it is obvious wananchi are now capable of engaging in profitable economic activities.
“Our big task was to create a good environment for building up the economy; we have succeeded and we are continuing with this noble job, which helps in laying the foundation for economic growth,” said Dr Magufuli.
According to Dr Magufuli, at least 206bn/- has been spent on building 117.1 kilometres of tarmac roads that link Simiyu and other regions had been constructed and 261.4km rough roads were constructed in the same period in the region.
The government has also built a modern stand and truck parking yard as well as Sibiti Bridge, which was a big problem for residents of Simiyu for many years.
He said that over the past five years, his government connected several villages to electricity across the country.
He noted that in Simiyu, 229 villages were connected and that a total of 81.1bn/- was spent on the sector in region.
On agriculture, Dr Magufuli said the government improved the sector by addressing various challenges that farmers had been facing for several years.
He said the government had already released 2bn/- for paying cotton farmers. He stated that cotton payments were delayed due to the problems caused by Covid- 19.
“We have released the money to pay farmers; we understand the challenges caused by Covid-19 in the world market,” said Dr Magufuli.
On livestock, the ruling party’s Presidential aspirant said his government had already charted strategies for improving the sector, and that so far, meat is already being transported abroad by using the national carrier – Air Tanzania Limited’s aircraft.
On education, the Head of State expressed his satisfaction with the way Simiyu Region has taken the matter seriously, saying the recent examination performance shows clearly how the regional administration is dealing with the sector.
He asserted that a total of 73.8bn/- was spent in the education sector in the region over the past five years.
“At least 8805 desks were bought, 78 teachers’ houses and seven dormitories constructed and a total of 1.4 million books were bought in the said period,” he said.
The government also employed a total of 1,116 teachers in the region between 2015 to 2020.
On the health sector, Dr Magufuli said 32.3bn/- had been spent. He said the government constructed a number hospitals, including regional referral hospital, a number of health centres and several dispensaries.
Moreover, the presidential candidate added that the number of women who delivered at health centres and hospitals increased from 53.8 percent in 2015 to 88 percent in 2019.
Moreover, President Magufuli cleared the air over the approval of Eng Andrew Kundo to vie for the Bariadi legislative post, instead of the veteran politician, Andrew Chenge, and other former MPs whose names were dropped during the screening in Dodoma.
They include Dr Rafael Chegeni (Busega) and Salum Salum (Meatu). He said there was nothing behind the move and that it was time Mr Chenge stepped aside for now.
“Mr Chenge is my brother, he even helped me with a 200,000/- donation when my wife was pregnant in 1995, so I can tell you here that he is my real brother and surely, he is going to request votes for me and all other CCM candidates.”
When given opportunity, Mr Chenge said he was happy with the decision and that his focus now was to ensure that the ruling party emerges victorious in the October polls.
