| MPs fault Magufuli on new fares | Send to a friend |
| Monday, 02 January 2012 23:24 |
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The Citizen Reporters Dar es Salaam. Members of Parliament in Dar es Salaam yesterday appealed to the government to halt the implementation of new fares, announced over the weekend by Works minister John Magufuli, that will be paid by people who use ferries. They argued that the new fares were illegal because the responsible minister announced them without communicating with other stakeholders during their review.Dr Magufuli announced the new fares on Sunday, which saw a 100 per cent increase from Sh100 to Sh200. They now want the minister to apologise to the Prime Minister and wananchi following his inflammatory statement that those who would not afford the new fares should swim across the Magogoni Creek to the city centre. The controversial statement by Dr Magufuli provoked anger among Dar es Salaam MPs who claimed there was a lot of embezzlement of funds at the ferry.The ferry which is said to collect Sh18 million per month, submits only Sh9 million to the government prompting the lawmakers to query where the rest goes. The chairperson of Dar es Salaam MPs, Mr Abbas Mtevu (Temeke-CCM), said what Dr Magufuli did was unfair and added that he has been tarnishing the image of the government, claiming the minister was disobedient to the Prime Minister who ordered him to stop announcing the new fares at Kigamboni ferry. “The minister must know that what he did was not right because even the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) is unaware of the increment of ferry fares at Kigamboni,” said Mr Mtemvu. The lawmaker said the government needs to help its citizens to cope with the current changes that have seen an increase in the cost of living –which has hit Tanzanians hard. “Increasing the fare charged by the ferry is not a solution... what is required is good supervision of collections and administration of resources to benefit the people who are seeking better services,” said Mr Mtemvu. “If the government has failed to run the ferry, it should give it to MPs who have the ability to turn around its fortunes within a period of two weeks,” he added. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
