Kikwete: ‘Stop charging locals in dollar foreign currency’

PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has warned school owners and other business entities operating in the country to immediately stop charging local Tanzanians to pay their services in dollar foreign currency including school fees for their children. A statement issued to the media by the directorate of Presidential Communications said that President t Kikwete issued a warning on Wednesday night this week when talking to Tanzanians living in New Delhi. The President is currently visiting India where he is currently in a tour of a four day state visit which ends today at the invitation of Indian President Hon. Pranad Mukherjee. The statement says that, President Kikwete was responding to some of the queries raised by those Tanzanians who wanted to know various development aspects of the social, economic and political matters taking place in the country. He said no any local Tanzanians should be reinforced to settle bills in terms of dollar currency while buying a product or paying school fees, but this should be settled down by foreigners who visit the country as they are obliged to do so because they come along with foreign currency such as dollars. However, he said, “for Tanzanians it should not be reinforced whatsoever and insisted that they should settle their bills by using Tanzanian coins which is a legal payment tender for the local monitory exchange”. Other queries they wanted to know is about corruption and what steps has the government taken so far in the fight over the scourge. In response, the President said that his government has taken many steps including empowering the concerned related institutions tasked to deal with corruptions in the country. He said most Tanzanians have been made aware of the phenomenon and the effects caused into a greater extent and how they have introduced effective legal means to curb with the issue. Either the President noted that, the fight against corruption is very diverse and that it cannot be managed by one person. In view of this, a joint collaborative effort is urgently needed in collaboration with such institutions. “We have empowered institutions such as the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), Controller and Accounts General (CAG) office and ensure that the reports issued are publicly discussed in Parliament”, he said. The statement further quotes the President as saying that all these have been increased in order to pave the way for the people know exactly what is going on in the country. “PCCB and other institutions  have been given the mandatory to deal directly with corruption related cases in the country as these have been increased from four in 2005 to 24”, he said adding that the issue of corruption is now widely known among Tanzanians that as it was before. Responding over the issue of increased number of accidents in the country, President Kikwete admitted the increase of the number and clarified that this is because of large increased of vehicles on the road coupled by profuse alcoholic drinking and laziness caused by impervious drivers who do not want to comply by traffic rules and regulation set by government. Giving the statistics on vehicles in the country, President Kikwete said that it is estimated that in 2005, Tanzania had a total of 1.72 million vehicles, but during the past ten years there has been an addition of 1.5 vehicles. He said this is a tremendous increase which goes alongside with the road improvements and maintenance. He gave an  example of what is happening at his own town of Chalinze which he  said has become notorious of such malpractices whereby truck drivers stops for a brief stopover and begins drinking without realizing that have a long  way to go ahead. The President queried the rationale behind this why is the habit persisting and yet the placer is full of traffic police.