Government must act on David Jairo

Minister for Energy and Minerals William Ngeleja (L), David Jairo (C),and Deputy Minister Adam Malima (R)

Opinion: Speaker’s corner

The Government must act now on Ministry of Energy and Minerals scam. The Express July 21, 2011

By Elias Mhegera

THE political situation in Tanzania is not calm, there are commotions and underground movements which could lead into a total anarchy and something must be done sooner than later.

There are many issues which need immediate action but no one seem to be in-charge of affairs, the most recent incident being of the corruption scandal involving David Jairo the permanent secretary Ministry of Energy and Minerals and probably the entire top team at the ministry.

There are many other issues which have been reported in the media but the Government has not yet acted up to now. For instance Dar es Salaam being the centre of every activity has no permanent regional commissioner, while even the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance goes without some key commissioners.

Now we also do expect to get a new chairperson for the Electoral Commission which has become the centre of accusations from many circles. These are just few examples to elucidate the extreme of the problem.

The message here is Tanzanians need the Governemnt to act, and in a way that will depict that leaders do act whenever they assume duties that they have demanded from their voters.

The Premier Mizengo Pinda has said that there is nothing that he can do due to the fact that permanent secretaries are appointees of the president, but the Vice President Dr Gharib Bilal is around whom then should take the blame for not taking immediate action whenever the law or regulation requires so.

 Without proper supervision of the institutions that are supposed to guide the performance of the Government there is a possibility of empowering irresponsible people. It is also clear that people in remote areas will become victims than those who are well placed closer to the resources like Dar es Salaam residents.

To solve this power vacuum there is a need to enact a strong institution at the State House that will assist the president in his governing duties. The presidency as it is in other countries is a group of people who are well versed in all fields of life.

These are the one to act like a barometer of what is happening in the country, they are the ones to foresee and predict the possible outcomes of any activity, they are the ones who could grasp affairs well before they explode in the limelight.

It is not proper to act in a laissez faire style when people are suffering since this is one of the components which can cause the erosion of the people’s trust to their Government.

At present probably the Government should grapple with the power crisis first before it establish any project that has nothing to do with the much cried for energy.

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