Special Seats MP, Susan Lyimo.
Opposition Members of Parliament yesterday faulted
performance of Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) saying it has failed to
implement its 2010 election manifesto.
They observed that most of the issues outlined in the ruling party’s 2010 election manifesto have not been put into practice.
Debating the Prime Minister’s Office budget estimate for the
2015/2016 financial year, the opposition legislatures argued that the
government has not done enough to improve peoples’ lives.
It all started with Special Seats MP, Susan Lyimo (Chadema) who
said the ruling party manifesto stated that there would be agriculture
bank by 2015, a promise that has not been achieved.
“Ten years down the lane, the agriculture bank that would have
improved the lives of farmers is nowhere to be seen, yet the ruling
party boasts of great success in agriculture development,” she said.
But her assertion did not go well with members of the other side of
the floor, prompting deputy minister for Agriculture, Food Security and
Cooperative, Godfrey Zambi to intervene.
The deputy minister told the House that the bank will officially be
operational from 1st July this year as all plans for its establishment
have been completed.
“Let me clarify that the bank will soon open as the board and administrative staff are already in place” he said.
Zambi added that despite official launching, it has been in
operation through agriculture window at the Tanzania Investment Bank
(TIB) where at least Sh 24 billion was deposited.
But Lyimo insisted that the government promised a fully fledged
bank. She also noted that CCM promised to revive the dying industries in
the country and reposses the privatised industries that were not
operating.
She argued that most of the industries and factories lay on death beds at a time when Tanzanians needed products from them.
The outspoken MP said for instance, the General Tyre was dead while
many Tanzanians now own cars and could buy products from the factory.
She added that textile industry was dead; adding that Tanzanians
now use imported clothes from China while the ruling party in its
manifesto said it would revive textile factories.
The most striking, according the legislator, was that the ruling
party had promised to build Vocational Education Training Authority
(VETA) centres in all district by 2015 but nothing at all has been
done.
On water projects, she said the ruling party stated in its
manifesto that by 2015 all villages in the country would have reliable
source of water
The MP who took the House by surprise, contributing holding a
printed copy of the CCM manifesto noted that the ruling party also
promised to register all elder people in the country, provide them with
identity cards that would allow them get free treatment.
To date, she said there are over two million elderly people in the
country and they have not been reached by the government as promised in
the election manifesto.
The Muhambwe Member of Parliament, Felix Mkosamali, (NCCR-Mageuzi)
on his part took issue with the government for failure to disburse funds
for various projects.
He said only 28 per cent of the internally sourced funds was
released while only 20 per cent of foreign sourced was disbursed to
various projects.
“It is a shame that we are here, working on a budget that will not
be implemented,” he said, adding that itwas needless for the government
to bring MPs to Dodoma to work on an empty budget.
Mkosamali, one of the youngest and vibrant MPs in the tenth
parliament also took the government to task for failure to implement its
plans, adding that it relied so much on private sector for survival.
“It looks like the directors in some of the private entities have
more brains than most government officials and leaders,” he said.
Special Seats MP, Muhonga Ruhwanya, (Chadema) specifically
identified section 206 of CCM manifesto that says the government shall
implement the manifesto to the letter to improve lives of Tanzanians.
But her special seats counterpart, Moza Said Abeid (CUF) argued
that the government was playing politics with people’s lives. “Let the
ruling party stop this dirty game and do what it promised to do in the
party manifesto” she observed.
No comments:
Post a Comment