Tanzania: President Mwinyi Fires Five Officials

HARDLY four days since President Hussein Mwinyi decried the underperformance of some of his appointees, vowing to sack the culprits; five senior officials were dismissed from office.

A statement released on Thursday by Chief Secretary Engineer Zena Ahmed Said announced the dismissal of the Education and Vocational Training Minister’s Director of Personnel and Operations, Omar Ali Omar, and his Institute of Education counterpart Suleiman Yahya Ame.

President Mwinyi’s axe also fell on Labour Commissioner in the President’s Office, Labour, Economy and Investments Fatma Iddi Ali; Director of Gender and Children in the Ministry of Health, Social Welfare, Elderly, Gender and Children Najima Haji Choum; and Senior Administration Officer-In-Charge, Pemba, in the Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Salum Ubwa Nassor.

The statement didn’t explain the reason behind the terminations, which became effective on February 3, 2022.

Fielding questions from a fully packed press conference room at State House last Monday, President Mwinyi conceded some challenges in the government performance, pledging changes soon.

He said: “We have both good and poor performers but sincerely, women are doing better than men,” Dr Mwinyi said of his appointees.

Dr Mwinyi said he will soon embark on his impromptu tours of public institutions to enforce hard work and smooth delivery of services to wananchi.

“We entrusted people with the task but it seems some have failed,” President Mwinyi noted with concern.

The Head of State implored the islanders to remain patient as the government agencies, especially Zanzibar Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Authority (ZAECA), work on grand corruption charges against public servants.

“We don’t want to rush to court without sufficient evidence to build strong cases; but many cases on embezzlement of public resources are almost complete, they will soon be filed subject to availability of strong evidences,” President Mwinyi said in response to a question on reluctance to prosecute suspected economic saboteurs.

During the occasion, the isles leader expressed sympathy to Zanzibaris on the skyrocketing prices of foodstuffs, saying the problem is beyond the government’s control because they emanate from the product sources.

“Both, the purchase prices in the producing countries and transport costs have skyrocketed,” he said, pledging to review the government charges on imports doubting, however, if the move will have any meaningful impact.

On the effectiveness of the “Sema na Rais Mwinyi” initiative, the president said there are still challenges but many issues have been addressed, with 67 per cent of the issues raised having already been solved.

Under the initiative, the islanders are provided with an opportunity to talk to their leader on various challenges they are encountering.