Kamisaa
Member
- Jun 18, 2011
- 90
- 16
Hii ni sehemu ya email iliyonifikia ikijibu swali la mtoa hoja. Naibandika hapa kwa manufaa ya wote:
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To answer in brief, absolutely there has been a number of registered
achievements for January Makamba in Bumbuli. I cannot go into great
detail, but notable ones include (and this is public information
really):
1) Bumbuli will soon become a Council (Halmashauri) with its own
budget and development agenda, not depending on what is set and
managed out of district level in Lushoto Town. This is a step one in
the ultimate goal of lobbying for Bumbuli to become a district. It
fits all the criteria for this to happen. Both of these (council then
district) were key electoral promises.
2) Another key promise was tarmac road from Soni to Korogwe chini. At
the moment the entire constituency does not have even a single
tarmacked road! January pushed to have this road inserted in the CCM
manifesto before he was an MP, and then worked to ensure that this
financial year money was allocated for road appraisal which is the
crucial step before construction starts. Just achieving this step had
eluded previous MPs. Hopefully, in the next 2 years or so construction
will start, with at least half of this road is expected to be done.
3) He has also placed more than 100 teachers in Bumbuli in
collaboration with an education NGO as part of a pilot project for
comprehensive education revitalization initiative that combines
providing teachers and nutrition to schools and then monitor
attendance and pass rates. If successful, this pilot would be scaled
nationwide. A number of new schools, water wells, playing grounds etc
have also been built by the MP. He created an efficient mobile
communication system of collecting views and passing info to his
constituents.
4) He has also spearheaded a community-led initiative to revive the
tea crop which has been in decline for some time, with farmers
abandoning plots and factories laying in decay. Great progress in this
regard as well.
There are many more small things achieved and others in the pipeline.
The community organization he created (Bumbuli Dev Corp) is already in
operation with full fledged office and experts, but will be formally
launched in the future. This is separate from the work of the MP
Office in responding to constituents needs. The formal launch will
come in the near future once key programs have taken root.
Turning to the motion for a Rental Act, I really enjoyed reading
Richard's expert arguments on the conditions of the real estate market
in Tanzania today. Those are great insights, an with his permission, I
would like to forward them to the January.
However, I would caution not to make undue judgement about his motion
before he has even presented it! Basing loads of criticism based on
newspaper reports is reckless, especially because we all know that our
newspapers usually miss the mark in their reporting (in most cases
they report the basics or give emphasis to an angle that is
sensational to its readers).
Essentially, he is demanding the Govt to bring a bill to Parliament
that would end up becoming law to regulate housing rental business for
the benefit of both renters and owners, taking into account the market
forces as well. He is not drafting his own Bill and in it proposing
what should be curbed or relaxed. He will be simply highlighting the
problem as it stands for both owners and renters and asking the Govt
to intervene. We have tor remember that the Govt discarded the
previous law back in 1984 I believe that governed the sector (as part
of Mwinyi laisser faire push), and since then the market has been
running on its own without checks and balances. He argues that it has
come to a point where the Govt needs to regulate and ensure that the
business continues to thrive but at the same time basic rights of the
tenants are also protected. There is no contradiction. Therefore, the
idea that January is simply clueless about market forces and why
things operate the way they are now is simply far from the truth. Off
course, as a representative of the people, he would naturally put
emphasis on protecting wananchi's rights (and yes, as an MP he can
advocate for every Tanzanian, not just Bumbuli residents). But just
like in his work within the energy sector, he has shown pragmatism by
advocating common sense business solutions to social problems
(sometimes facing fierce criticism for doing so, eg when he called for
Dowans plant to be switched on instead of it lying idle for months and
months while the nation was in darkness, he got called all kinds of
names. When the plant was finally switched on, people went back to
enjoying relief in power instead of demanding it to be shut down
again!). To conclude, I see no rift in the views expressed here to
those that I saw in the internal debate January had about this motion
he wants to present.
