Tamesa demands Sh17bn from government institutions

Simiyu. State owned institutions, including councils, are owed Sh17 billion by the Tanzania Mechanical and Electronics Service Agency (Tamesa) in accumulated bills.

This comes after the government institutions failed to pay the agency maintenance bills of government vehicles, among others.

The Tamesa marketing officer, Ms Avelina Mbunda, revealed this when she was speaking to journalists during the opening of the Farmers Day exhibition at Nyakabindi ground in Simiyu region.

Ms Mbunda said the institutions failed to pay arrears between 2017 and March 2018, noting that the agency had issued a notice to push the institutions to pay them.

Meanwhile, Ms Mbunda further asserted that the agency was contemplating to seize the government vehicles with a view to forcing the government to pay the arrears. “We will soon start seizing vehicles that belong to government institutions in attempt to push them to pay the arrears,” she said. Ms Mbunda also revealed that the agency had formed a special task force to follow up on the outstanding arrears and squeeze the government institutions to pay.

Commenting further on the matter, Ms Mbunda also accused the institutions managements of failing to bring the broken down vehicles on time for maintenance.

For her part, Tamesa communications and public relations officer Theresia Mwami called on the institutions to pay them to enable the agency to improve vehicle maintenance services by constructing modern facilities.

“Once these institutions pay the arrears, we will use the money to rehabilitate and construct new modern facilities with a view to improving and expanding our vehicles maintenance services countrywide,” she said.

Responding, Meatu district commissioner Joseph Chilongani challenged the agency to improve vehicles maintenance services, citing that the institutions were complaining about the agency’s efficiency.

He urged the agency to improve its services in order to attract more customers.