AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports has been urged to increase efforts in resolving challenges facing artists and athletes as the two sectors are major sources of employment to the majority youths.
The call was made at the State House by President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the State House on Tuesday during a swearing in occasion of some of the Deputy Permanent Secretaries, Permanent Secretaries and heads of the Public Institutions.
During the occasion nine Deputy Permanent secretaries and seven Permanent Secretaries were sworn in yesterday.
President Samia directed the ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports to work on the challenges hindering development of Sports and Arts sectors due to their important role in providing employment to the majority of young Tanzanians besides bringing revenue to the country.
The President believes the two sectors will be very productive to the Tanzanians and the country if all challenges hindering their development are resolved or alleviated.
Insisting she said once the challenges are sorted out, the two sectors will enable more artists and athletes to join the sectors, thus; helping the government to shrug off the unemployment burden.
She advised the Ministry governed by Innocent Bashungwa, his deputy Pauline Gekul and its Permanent Secretary, Dr Hassan Abbas to support the two sectors and work on those challenges which she said deeply affect the development of the two sectors.
“When the challenges are sorted out, the two sectors will attract a bigger number of young Tanzanians,” she insisted.
During the recent swearing ceremony held at the Chamwino State House in Dodoma, President Samia directed the newlyappointed Deputy Minister of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports Pauline Gekul to put more efforts in developing and supporting women sports in the country.
During the occasion President Samia expressed his disappointment to see women teams missing the warm reception after doing well in the international level tournaments.
“Women have been doing well in sports, but they don’t get decorations like men’s teams and have not been rewarded. I was tasked by the late President John Magufuli when I was his Vice President and now I task you Gekul to work on this challenge,” she said.
Tanzania National Women Senior team, Twiga Stars qualified for their first ever Women’s African Football Championship finals staged in 2010 in South Africa after defeating Eritrea 11–4 on aggregate but didn’t receive any award like the men’s team, Taifa Stars that played in the AFCON finals in Egypt in 2019.
The government awarded Taifa Stars players and the technical staff residential plots in Dodoma. Apart from that the President also urged the ministry to ensure the country’s culture and norms continue to be preserved so has to safeguard the nation’s values and identity globally.
Sport has been considered to be an important form of recreation and a means to promote peace, human health, development and decent work and is practiced by millions of amateur and professional athletes worldwide.
In the recent years professional sports have become a major industry, providing employment to millions connected to the sector. According a research done in 2006 in Tanzania, youth constitute 60 per cent of all people who are unemployed.
