AfricaPress-Tanzania: NEW ministers and those who have been relocated in the recent mini-cabinet reshuffle have assured of their commitment to address challenges falling under their dockets by following the directives by President Samia Suhulu Hassan.
They made the remarks separately after reporting to their offices shortly after being sworn-in to their new positions on Thursday, in Dodoma.
As they assured of total cooperation while undertaking their responsibilities, they also asked for the same from their subordinates for better performance of their dockets.
Minister of State, President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PoRALG) Ummy Mwalimu said her main agenda will be to fix the loophole for leakage of revenue collection in the Local Government Authorities (LGAs).
According to her, this will go together with expanding the scope of revenue collection and controlling expenditure in development projects as part of efforts to improve delivery of social services and fight misuse of public funds.
“As it has been said, there is a leakage of revenue collection in local government councils, if we manage to increase the scope of collection and control expenditure, then our docket will be able to deliver proper services to the people,” she said.
The minister also spoke of the importance of starting immediately on the report of the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) for the year 2019/2020.
According to the CAG, about 185 LGAs were audited during the 2019/2020 Fiscal Year, out of which only 124 received unqualified opinion reports, 53 LGAs received adverse opinion reports while eight of them were slapped with qualified opinion.
Going forward, she asked all staff in the ministry to work hard, diligently and be creative on finding solutions to challenges facing people, especially in hard to reach areas.
“We don’t have to relax while our children are sitting on the floor in classrooms due to shortage of desks and proper learning infrastructure,” she said.
For his part, Minister of State, Vice President’s Office, Union and Environment, Selemani Jafo pledged to address the remaining union challenges.
Mr Jafo made the commitment when he was talking to the ministry’s management team as well as the National Environmental Management Council (NEMC).
“Let’s work hard to ensure positive output in everything we do,” he said, asking for continued cooperation from all departments in his ministry.
His notes were in line with the thoughts of his deputy minister, Hamad Chande, who said cooperation was key towards achieving the goals on union and environmental affairs.
“We need to protect our union and the environment, we have to work together by putting forward national interest,” he urged.
The minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba called on all staff members of the docket to work hard for the greater interest of the country.
For her part, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Amb Liberatha Mulamula, apart from thanking President Samia for appointing her, she pledged to work hard and continue promoting Tanzania’s diplomacy.
“The foreign affairs ministry is like my home, I started my career in this ministry and spent a lot of time working for this docket, this time I have come as a minister, my task will be to enhance the diplomatic ties that Tanzania has with other countries,” she said.
Receiving the Deputy Minister for Works and Transport, Mwita Waitara to his new office, Minister of the docket, Eng Leonard Chamuriho said their performance depends highly on commitment and hard work from staff members.
He said all staff in the ministry are subject to timely accomplishment of projects being undertaken by his docket.
The ministry is implementing a number of projects, including Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), roads, bridges, airplanes, construction of ships and ferries.
The deputy minister Mr Waitara asked for cooperation, pledging full commitment and hard work for better performance.
