|
Opinion split on planned 500m/- regional input
2006-07-16 10:16:18
By Peter Msungu
While many rural Tanzanians are jubilant over the recent government announcement that effective this financial year every region will get 500 million shillings to facilitate development, their urban counterparts are of the view that it is a useless exercise as very few stand to benefit.
A week-long survey by the Sunday Observer has shown that for a long time in the history of this country, funds dished out of the treasury for development purposes was never properly used.
Many a time, such funds were used for different purposes other than the targeted ones, says an official from the treasury, who adds that in one incident money disbursed to a district for health purposes was diverted and used to rehabilitate a district road.
Speaking on strict terms of anyonimity, one university professor says that while the government initiative is very welcome, he wondered how it will be implemented because this money is meant to help establish projects that will enable youth groups get out of poverty line.
The don wanted to be informed if there are regions on the Mainland and Zanzibar with ready or planned youth projects to qualify for this clossal sum of money. ’’For what I know there are very few if any envisaged youth projects, unless they are on the drawing table,’’ says the professor.
He further urgues that the 500m/- should not be equally distributed to all regions because some of them are more advanced and bigger, while others are smaller and less advanced.
It will be unfair to set aside 500m/- for Pemba, and allocate the same amount of money for Mwanza, Mbeya or Tanga regions, the professor urgues.
A one time famous farmer at Ifunda, Iringa region, Mlogosi Mwandindi, wondered why the government has given priority to youth projects and not to peasant farmers who toil daily on the land without any financial assistance from the government.
|
